1 


i 


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PRINCETON,   N.  J  '\ 

No.  Case,- j 

No.  Shelf, - 

No.  Book, - 


Division. 

Section., 
No, 


A      DONATION 


Beceiued 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/poperyfoeofchuOOvand 


P  O  P  E  K  T 


FOE    OF    THE    CHURCH, 


AKD    OF    THE 


REPUBLIC. 


JOSEPH    S.   VAN    DYKE,    A.M. 


PEOPLES    PUBLISHING    CO. 

PHILADELPHIA,  Pa.  ;  CINCINNATI,  0. ;   CHICAGO,  III.  j    ST.  LOUIS,  Mo. 
SPRINGFIELD,  Mass. 

1871. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1871,  by 

JOSEPH  S.  VAN    DYKE, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  0. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

ELECTnOTYPED     AND    PRINTED     BT 

S.     A.     GEORGE     «t     CO. 


''^Tf  T 


PREFACE. 


HE  deep  interest  awakened  in  the  hearts  of  many 
by  the  present  condition  and  reawakened  ener- 
gies of  the  Papal  Church,  is  our  apology  for 
presuming  to  call  the  attention  of  the  public  to 
Popery's  inveterate  hostility  to  civil  and  religious  lib- 
erty. And  this,  most  assuredly,  is  a  subject  which, 
though  lacking  novelty,  imperatively  demands  earnest, 
serious,  thoughtful  consideration.  In  this  age  of  maud- 
lin charity  for  all  systems  of  faith — instead  of  genuine 
charity  for  all  men — the  Church  greatly  needs  a  fear- 
less reassertion  of  the  principles  and  doctrines  essential 
to  the  hope  of  salvation.  Souls  struggling  with '  sin 
need  to  know  that  Christ,  our  elder  brother,  ever  acces- 
sible, is  a  mighty  Saviour,  and  that  all  the  ransomed 
are  "  kings  and  priests  unto  God." 

If  the  aspirations  of  Romanism  were  restricted  to 
increased  spiritual  power,  our  duty  would  terminate 
with  proclaiming  a  free,  untrammelled  Gospel,  hope 
for  every  penitent  at  the  foot  of  Calvary.     But  Rome 


4  PREFACE. 

lias  never  yielded  her  right  to  temjDoral  rule.  The 
unparalleled  efforts  now  made  to  extend  her  influence 
are  instigated  by  the  hope  of  securing  control  in  the 
political  world.  We  need,  therefore,  a  reaffirmation 
of  the  lesson  written  in  the  struggles  of  thirteen  cen- 
turies, that  Romanism  is  the  ally  of  despotism.  Pro- 
testantism the  friend  of  constitutional  libert}^ 

This  volume,  presented  to  the  public  with  a  deep 
consciousness  that  it  falls  far  short  of  meeting  the 
demand  of  the  times,  is  a  feeble  effort  to  prove  that 
Romanism  in  this  nineteenth  century  is  essentially  the 
same  that  it  has  always  been,  the  foe  of  the  true 
Church  and  of  Republicanism,  the  determined  enemy 
of  liberty,  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  personal  and  national. 
Prepared  in  the  disconnected  hours  of  ministerial  life, 
we  crave  for  it  the  reader's  generous  criticism.  Firmly 
convinced,  however,  that  the  subject  is  one  claiming 
earnest  attention,  we  timidly  launch  our  tiny  bark 
in  the  feeble  hope  that  it  may,  in  some  slight  mea- 
sure at  least,  awaken  attention  to  the  danger  to  be 
apprehended  from  a  system  of  despotism^  which  for 
fifteen  centuries  has  fettered  the  limbs  of  freedom  and 

darkened  the  way  of  salvation. 

The  AuTnoR. 
Ceanbury,  K  J., 

Sept.  1,  1871. 


CONTENTS. 


INTEODUOTORY. 

PAGE 

No  just  cause  of  alarm — Call  for  exertion — Hostility  to  Republicanism — Present 
activity — Growth  in  the  United  States — Relative  gain — Control  of  irreligious 
masses — Summary  of  Evangelism — Converts  to  Romanism — Unity  of  pur- 
pose— Efforts  in  the  West — Power  shrewdly  exerted — Choice  locations — De- 
signs— Efforts  in  the  South,  among  the  Freedmen — Measures  adopted  at 
Baltimore — Reference  to  Pope — Contribution  from  Rome — Landing  of  priests 
— Establishment  of  schools — -Popery's  displa3-s  captivate  the  ignorant — South 
a  second  Ireland — Efforts  in  the  East ;  in  large  cities — Effectiveness  of  their 
agencies — Their  schools  teach  Catholicism — Seeking  ascendency — Advantages 
over  Protestants;  one  will,  designs  masked,  unscrupulous — Their  boast — 
Assertions  of  bishops  and  papers — What  has  been  may  be — Testimony  of 
Desraeli — The  struggle  inevitable 11 


POPERY   THE   PREDICTED   EXEMY   OF   CHEIST^S   KINGDO:^!. 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE  ROMAN   POWEU   FORETOLD. 

Popery's  seemingly  charmed  life — Claims  divine  origin — Outgrowth  of  depraved 
nature — Prophecies  panoramic  ;  the  picture  incomplete  but  accurate — Diffi- 
culties of  interpretation — Prominence  of  Romanism — Nebuchadnezzar's  dream 
— Two  objects  ;  despotism  and  Christianity — The  four  kingdoms — Form  of 
government  of  the  last — Unnatural  union  of  despotism  and  Republicanism — 
Daniel's  interpretation — Rome's  conquests — Her  policy  in  later  times — Never 
firmly  consolidated — The  empire  divided — Kept  asunder — Christ's  kingdom  as 
Rome's  foe — Two  states  foretold — Time  of  rise — Predicted  foe  of  Republican- 
ism— The  struggle  through  centuries — Some  of  the  kingdoms  still  lending 
power  to  Rome — The  Christian's  hope 2-t 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE  PAPACY  PREDICTED  AS  THE  FOE  OF  THE  TRUE  CHURCH. 
• 
Rome's  ecclesiastical  power  foretold — Nebuchadnezzar's  dream  and  Daniel's 
vision — Origin  of  the  four  beasts — Character  of  each  symbolized — The  angel's 
interpretation — Roman  power  diverse — Its  extended  dominion — Its  policy — 
Rise  of  the  papacy — The  Little  Horn — Date  of  rise — Three  kingdoms  plucked 
up — Unlimited  authority  predicted — Origin  of  supremacy — Arrogance  foretold 
— Claiming  the  keys — Opens  heaven,  thrusts  into  hell,  retains  in  purgatory, 
forgives  sin — Assertion  of  London  Vatican  ;  Pope  reigns  in  both  worlds — 
Rebels  to  the  Pope  are  rebels  against  God — Infallibility  dogma — Warring 
against  the  saints — Rome's  slaughters — Changing  times — Continuance  of  tem- 
poral power — Last  act  in  the  drama — Continuance  of  spiritual  power — Her 
claim  to  be  the  true  Church  and  the  friend  of  Republicanism D3 

5 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  111. 

rORMALISM    AX   OLD   EXEMY   OF    CHRISTIAXITT. 

PAGE 

Papal  claim  to  antiquity — A  hackneyed  quotation — Lord  Macaulay's  testimony 
— Protestantism  as  old  as  tlie  Bible — Popery  a  novelty — Primacy  of  Peter  a 
recent  dogma — Supremacy  of  the  Pope  resisted,  by  councils,  by  fathers,  by 
popes — Invocation  of  the  dead  a  recent  dogma — ilasses  not  established  till  9th 
century;  purgatory  not  till  1430;  celibacy  not  till  11th  centur}-;  transub- 
stantiation  not  till  13th — The  latter  denounced,  by  fathers,  bj- Lateran  Council 
— Insufficiency  of  the  Bible — Adoration  of  relics — Withholding  cup  from  laity 
— Immaculate  conception  still  more  recent — Infallibility  the  last  dogma — Love 
of  form  ancient — Prevalent  among  Pagans  and  Jews — Judaism  only  ritualism 
— ^Supposed  destruction  of  spiritualitj- — Phariseeism  denounced  by  Christ — 
Its  early  manifestation  in  the  Church — Denounced  by  Apostles — Its  growth; 
when  complete  Antichrist — Romanism  is  perfected  ritualism,  the  foe  of  spiri- 
tuality and  Republicanism 46 

CHAPTER  IV. 

ROMAKISM   AX   APOSTASY. 

Paul's  predictions — The  "Man  of  Sin"  exalts  himself;  coming  with  "lying 
wonders" — "Strong  delusion" — Continuance  till  Second  Advent — Popery  the 
predicted  apostasy — If  Romanism  is  not  Antichrist,  Protestantism  must  be — 
Which  did  Apostles  teach? — In  first  three  centuries  Christianity  pure — Xo 
unmeaning  rites — Earl  j'  persecutions — Christianity  under  popular  ban — Purity 
a  result — Rome's  ceremonies  unknown — Xo  universal  bishopric — Testimony 
of  Clemens — Popery's  assumptions  unheared  of — Conversion  of  Constantino 
— Effect  upon  Christian  religion — Rapid  growth  of  ceremonies — Boniface  III. 
"universal  bishop  " — The  title  not  assumed  without  strenuous  opposition — 
Protest  of  Ireneus;  of  Maurus — Councils  resist — Testimony  of  St.  Ibar;  of 
Theodoret — Two  rival  popes  —  Gregory's  protest  —  Infallibility  condemns 
supremacy — Lewis  owned  no  supremacy — False  decretals — Constantino's  gift; 
a  base  fabrication — Nicholas  I.  assumes  supremacy — Government  of  the 
Church  entirely  changed — Testimony  of  Mosheim ;  of  Bellarmine.  Extracts 
from  Janus — Infallibility  declares  submission  essential  to  salvation — Assertion 
of  Boniface  Till.;  of  recent  Vatican  Council — See  of  St.  Pet^r  free  from 
error — Opposers  of  infallibility  and  supremacy  anathematized 57 

CHAPTER  V. 

POPERY,    PAGANISM. 

Boniface  merely  sanctioned  existing  rites — The  motive  for  introducing  heathen 
forms — Testimony  of  Gregory — The  policy  disastrous — Method  of  manufactur- 
ing dogmas — Pagan  rites  when  imported — Idolaters  made  Christians — Same 
ceremonies — Fish  listening  to  preaching — Festival  of  St.  Anthony — A  comic 
scene — The  custom  borrowed — Catholic  legend — Holy  water,  its  spiritual  and 
corporeal  usefulness — Use  of  incense — Original  test  of  faith  in  Christ — Kneel- 
ing before  idols — Specimens  of  prayers  to  Marj- — Images  in  rows — Priests  in 
robes — Boy  in  white — Burning  candles — Feast  of  lights — Purgatory  stolen — 
Homer's  testimony — Invocation  of  the  dead — Sample  of  prayers — Cincinnati's 
new  saint — Worshipping  bones — Beneath  St.  Peter's — Temple  (*f  Romulus — 
The  Pantheon — Same  festivals — Heathen  feast-days  too  few  —  Prostration 
before  images — Testimony  of  a  traveller — Statue  of  St.  Peter — Ridiculous 
mistakes  ;  a  canonized  heathen,  sainted  mountain,  sainted  cloak — Prayer  to 
St.  Handkerchief — Patron  s.aints — Advice  to  children — Processions;  festival 
of  the  Annunciation — Title  of  Supreme  Pontiff — Votive  offerings — Scene  in 
Paris — Sacrifice  of  the  mass — Priest  handling  wafer — Infants — Absurdities — 
Asceticism — Self-whippers — Seneca's  testimony — Edict  of  Commodius — Kiss- 
ing the  Pope's  toe — Suing  for  forgiveness — Testimony  of  Dean  Waddini^ton; 
of  Aringhus;  of  Dr.  Middleton — Aflinity  to  Buddhism — Two  infallibles — 
Same  rites — Similar  defences 71 


CONTENTS.  7 

P>A.I^T    II- 

POPEEY  ESSENTIALLY   HOSTILE   TO   CHRISTIANITY. 

CHAPTER  I. 

ARROGANCE, 

PAGE 

Unrivalled  assumption — Claim  of  Fagnani;  of  Innocent  III.  j  of  Bellarmine — 
Extract  from  L'Univers  —  Contradictions  —  Inerrancy  erring  —  Infallibility 
ignorant  of  geography — Le  Pere  Lacordaire  on  immutability — Claim  of  ex- 
clusive right  to  interpret  Scripture — Obedience  the  people's  only  right — Even 
God  must  speak  through  the  Pope — Publication  of  Bible  anathematized — 
American  Bible  Society  denounced — Letter  of  Pius  VII. — No  version  without 
notes — Bible-reading  condemned — Indulgence  purchasable — Defended  by  logic 
•Opposition  to  popular  education;  to  freedom  of  the  press — Bull  of  1832 — 
Rome's  golden  age — Priestly  forgiveness — Anathema  against  opposers — 
Treasury  of  good  works — Every  sin  its  price — Without  money  no  forgiveness 
— Use  of  rosary — Continuance  in  purgatory  dependent  on  liberality — Creation 
of  the  world's  Creator — Latest  assumption — Catholics  must  yield  obedience...  101 

CHAPTER  II. 

INFALLIBILITY, 

Pio  Nono  declares  himself  infallible — Response  of  the  faithful — The  encyclical 
and  syllabus  of  '64 — Protest  against  the  civilization  of  the  age — Anathema 
against  the  friends  of  progress — Suppression  of  free  speech — Protests  contemned 
— Opposition  of  German  Prelates — Assertion  of  Cardinal  Schwarzenberg — Re- 
cantation of  the  Syrian  Patriarch — Threat  of  deposition — The  manifesto  of 
Prench  bishops — Argument  from  antiquity;  from  silence;  of  Dr.  Newman; 
from  Scripture;  of  Bishop  of  Poitiers — Believe  or  be  eternally  lost — The 
contest  ended — Refutation  unnecessary,  done  by  Catholics — Feeble  attempts 
to  answer  Janus — How  shall  we  know  what  Infallibility  teaches — Infallible 
transmission — A  cart-load  of  contradictions — Infallibility  useless — An  infalli- 
ble infallibly  pronounced  a  heretic — Earth's  revolution  condemned — The 
dogma  of  political  engine;  an  object  of  horror;  of  sadness;  of  ridicule — 
Popery  becoming  more  bigoted — Results  of  the  dogma — The  wail  of  despair 
— Extract  from  The  TubUt — Call  for  a  new  crusade — Sympathy  for  Pio  Nono..  118 

CHAPTER  III. 

DESPOTISM. 

Popery's  assumptions  equal  those  of  Brahmanism — Her  seven  sacraments  instru- 
ments of  tyranny — Doctrine  of  intention  as  aflFecling  sacrifice  of  mass,  bap- 
tism, extreme  unction,  marriage — Chance  for  an  adventurer — Without  inten- 
tion no  marriage — Confessional  an  engine  of  despotism — Catholics  disqualified 
for  American  citizenship — Pope's  claim  of  right  to  damn  the  soul — Bull 
against  Henry  VIII. ;  and  Queen  Elizabeth — Letter  from  heaven  to  king 
Pepin — Pope  becomes  temporal  sovereign — Pope's  denunciation  of  liberty — 
Extracts  from  Pio  Nono's  letters — Voluntary  obedience  impossible — Pope 
supreme  in  Council;  all  power  emanates  from  him — Washing  pilgrims'  feet — 
The  Senegambian  negro 137 

CHAPTER  IV. 

FRAUD  :  —  RELICS. 

Singular  objects  of  veneration — Four  heads  of  John  Baptist — Eight  arms  of 
St.  Matthew— Three  of  St.  Luke— Two  heads  of  St.  Paul— Two  of  St.  Peter— 
The  tail  of  Balaam's  ass— Oil  from  the  bones  of  St.  Elizabeth — Five  legs  of  an 
ass — Pieces  of  the  cross — Table  at  which  Christ  supped — Upper  chamber — 
Manna  of  the  wilderness — Blossoms  of  Aaron's  rod — Moses'  ark — The  dice 


8  CONTENTS. 

PAQE 

UEed  in  casting  lots  for  Christ's  vesture — A  piece  of  the  Virgin's  petticoat — St. 
Anthony's  toe-nails— A  vial  of  St.  Joseph's  breath — A  little  cheese  made  from 
Mary's  milli — Twelve  combs  "as  good  as  new" — Rays  of  a  star — The  beard 
of  Noah — A  step  of  Jacob's  ladder — Adoration  of  statues  and  images — Prayers 
laid  to  them 149 

CHAPTER  V. 

FKATJD  :  —  MIRACLES. 

Her  claim  of  power  to  work  miracles  defended  in  recent  publications — Specimens 
— Broken  back  made  whole — Sailing  on  a  millstone — Resisting  the  devil — A 
dead  saint  works  miracles — Conflicting  testimony — Headless  woman  restored — 
The  enraged  image — Liquefaction  of  St.  Januarius'  blood — Recent  wonders — 
The  wafer-infants — A  dying  man  instantaneously  made  well — The  infant's 
penance — Prayers  in  letters  of  gold — Two  hundred  in  "  Glories  of  Mary  " — 
The  suicide — Alexandra's  head  makes  confession — The  wooden  nun — The 
fountain  of  Lourdes — Bernadette's  vision — Huge  fabrication 155 

CHAPTER  VI. 

IDOLATRY. 

Testimony  of  Origen ;  of  Gibbon — Cunningly  introduced — Condemned  by  Coun- 
cil; by  Pope — Controversy  between  Leo  and  Gregory  II. — Tragical  death  of 
Leo  IV. — Bloody  Irene — Image  worship  established — Decree  of  Council  of 
Nice — Defence  of  monstrous  wickedness — Road-side  images — "Virgin  of 
Pillar" — The  crucifix  of  St.  Salvador — Letter  of  Gregory  to  Constantina — 
Filings  from  Paul's  chains — Distinction  between  absolute  and  relative  worship 
— Serenading  the  Virgin — Kissing  stones — The  papist's  apology — The  Virgin's 
titles — Mary's  cooperation  in  redemption — The  only  fountain  of  hope — Ap- 
pearance to  St.  Bridget — All  mercy  through  Mary — The  door  of  heaven — 
Dispenser  of  all  grace — Omnipotent — God  under  obligations — Commands 
Deity  —  Specimen  prayers  from  the  "Glories  of  Mary;"  from  Catholic 
Manual — With  the  instructed,  semi-political  papers  powerless — Corrected 
Psalms — The  Prisoner-Pope  imploring  Mary's  intercession 171 

CHAPTER  VII. 

"WILL  -  WORSHIP. 

Abstinence  from  meat  characteristic  of  popery — Meat  eaten  on  Friday  eternally 
damns — Pope  grants  indulgence — Penance  condemned  by  Paul — Self-torture — 
St.  Simeon — Forbidding  to  marry  characteristic  of  popery — Marriage  more 
sinful  than  concubinage  —  Celibacy  disastrous  to  morals — Testimony  from 
Gavin;  from  confessions  of  priests  ;  from  St.  Liguori — Extracts  from  "  Master 
Key  to  Popery" — Licentiousness 189 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

CREDULITY. 

Strong  delusion — Popery  worse  than  Paganism — Priest  ioithe  place  of  Christ — 
Disgusting  exhibitions — A  delusion  or  a  fali-ehood — Purgatory  a  gross  swindle 
— All  papists  enter  purgatory — Supererogation — Insurance  policies  against 
hell-fire — Papal  succession — The  Apostolic  office  abrogated — No  vestige  of 
papal  authority — The  paramours  of  abandoned  women  in  the  papal  chair — 
Two  infallible  pontiffs — Three  infallibles,  all  perjured — Rejection  of  the  fun- 
damental doctrines  of  salvation — Use  of  incense — Form  of  priestly  tonsure — 
Frauds  to  induce  belief  in  miracles — Falsehood  justified — Appeals  to  ignorance 
— Immutability — Bossuet's  testimony — Pathetic  appeal  to  antiquity;  its 
absurdity — Crimes  of  Pope  John  XII.  ;  of  John  XXII.;  of  Alexander  VI.; 
of  Julius  II.;  of  Leo  X.;  of  Paul  III.;  of  Julius  III. — Testimony  of  Gene- 
brard;    of  Baronius — Crimes  of  Councils;    of  Constantinople;    of  Nice;    of 


C0^^  TENTS.  9 

PAQE 

Lyons;  of  Constance — John  IIuss  burned  in  violation  of  pledges — TVyckliffe's 
bones  disinterred — Infallibility  a  delusion — Misquotation  of  Scripture  by  Pius 
IJl. — Monks  proved  angels 195 

SPJ^-FLT    III. 

POPERY   THE   FOE   OF   LIBERTY. 

CHAPTER  I. 

PEKSECUTION. 

Tyrants'  professions — The  Gospel  seized  upon — Persecution  adopted — Heretics 
denied  the  right  of  inheritaiice — Decree  of  the  Council  of  Constance — The 
Inquisition — Persecution  a  dogma — Defended  by  theologians  and  emperors — 
Declared  reasonable — Popes  defend  it — Bull  of  Urban  II. — Plenary  Indulgence 
— Councils  enjoin  extermination — Bishop's  oath  to  persecute— Kings  forced 
to  destroy  heretics — Scriptural  prophecy — An  engine  of  terror — Trivial  pre- 
texts for  arrest — Mode  of  arrest — Ileartlessness — Confession  or  torture — 
Methods  of  cruelty — Auto-da-fe — -Holy  wars — Preaching  a  crusade — Papal 
apology — Slaughter  of  Albigenses;  of  Waldenses — Whipping  Count  Piaimond 
— Cruelty  in  Beziers;  in  Monerbe;  in  valleys  of  Loyse  and  Frassiniere;  in 
Calabria  ;  in  Ireland — St.  Bartholomew's  day — Charles  IX.  rejoicing — The 
scarlet  robe  put  on — Te  Dcum  in  Rome — Attempt  at  white-washing 215 

CHAPTER  II. 

POPERY  THE   ENEMY  OP  CIVIL  LIBERTY. 

Opposed  to  every  safeguard  of  freedom — Same  in  the  United  States  as  formerly 
in  Europe — The  enemy  of  Public  School  system — Charge  of  sectarianism — 
Hostility  to  the  Bible — Their  own  version  uncirculated — Call  for  expulsion — 
Council  in  Baltimore — The  School  Fund — Pits  of  destruction — One  policy  in 
Austria,  another  in  U.  S. — Unfounded  assertions — Fatal  results — Not  content 
with  expulsion  of  Bible — Divine  right  of  education — No  ground  of  complaint 
— Yield  all  or  resist — Defence  in  Constitution — Liberty  used  to  overturn  liberty 
— Legislative  assistance — India-rubber  consciences — School  Bill — Their  schools 
sectarian — School  books— Allegiance  to  Pius  IX. — Pope's  jurisdiction  in  U.S. 
— Protest  against  civilization — Denial  of  Jesuits — Father  Ilecker's  address — 
Mistimed  assertion — Priests  above  law — Murderer  shielded — Catholics  in  recent 
war — Visit  to  Pope — Recognition  of  southern  Government — Benediction  to 
Davis — Assassination  of  Lincoln— Papal  admission — -Vote  as  directed  from 
Rome — Popery  established  by  ballot— Orange  riots — Political  cowardice — 
Spirit  of  Catholic  press — Singular  devotion — Wail  of  despair — Protests — 
Americans  oppose  Italian  unity — Call  for  crusade — Catholics  in  Zouave  dress 
— Raising  funds — Raffle  for  Pope's  snuff-box — No  cause  of  alarm — Catholics 
despairing — Church  and  State 231 

CHAPTER  111. 

THE   PAPACY  A  FOE   TO  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY. 

Right  of  private  judgment  condemned — Bible  reading  condemned — Decision  of 
the  Trent  Council — No  society  for  distributing  Bibles — Recent  Bible-burning — 
Liguori's  regret — Freedom  of  conscience — Declaration  of  Pope  ,•  of  bishop; 
of  New  York  Tablet — Persecution  in  1S70 — Opposition  to  freedom  of  press — 
Sign  of  weakness — Education  of  the  masses — Comparison  of  papal  lands  with 
Protestant — Claim  of  the  Cotholic  World — Strange  idea  of  libertj' — Civil 
libert}'  without  religious  impossible — Testimony  of  Gattini;  of  Father  Hya- 
cinthe 265 


10  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

POPERY  AND   MORALITY. 

PAGE 

Though  many  papists  are  rigid  moralists  the  system  immoral — Comparison  of 
papal  lands  with  Protestant — The  immoral  masses  in  Chicago  ;  in  London;  in 
Rome — Entertainment  in  the  Vatican — Estimate  of  priests  in  Rome — Morality 
scarcely  expected — Profanity — Specimen  of  Pope's  cursing — Anathema  against 
all  Xon-Catholics :  against  readers  of  condemned  books;  against  members  of 
secret  societies  ;  against  opposers  of  the  Church — Four-fifths  of  human  race 
under  anathema — Character  of  Jesuits — Testimony  of  Macaulay — Immorali- 
ties a  result  of  teaching — Influence  of  the  confessional — Rules  for  confessors — 
Theft  justified — Every  sin  lawful — Infallibility  condemns  speculative  beliefs 
and  sanctions  impurities — Dispensing  with  oaths — Conduct  correspondent — 
Infidelity  and  atheism  fruit  of  .popery — Testimony  of  Coleridge 274 

CHAPTER  V. 

POPERY    UNCHANGED. 

Greatness  departed — Methods  changed;  spirit  the  same — No  dogma  revoked — 
Xo  superstition  abandoned — Growling  and  waiting — Xo  less  eager  for  power — 
No  less  avaricious — No  less  intolerant — Threats  of  coming  vengeance — Rome's 
worst  acts  defended  in  U.  S. — Protestantism  an  intruder — Unrivalled  audacity 
— Extracts  from  Catholic  papers — Unexpected  candor — Text-books — Ana- 
thema of  Pius  IX.  against  those  who  deny  his  right  to  persecute — The  stolen 
child — Buried  in  a  monastery — Persecutions  in  Switzerland — Imprisonment 
of  a  physician — Sentence  of  death  against  a  convert — A,  suffering  family — 
Convert  in  dungeon — American  bishop  in  the  power  of  the  Inquisition — 
Protestant  worship  prohibited  in  Rome — Ingratitude — Papal  Zouaves  from 
America — Archbishop's  address — Opposition  to  Italian  repuTDlic — Popery 
supreme  over  Republicanism — No  vacillation  in  hating  liberty — Continuance 
of  popery — Overthrow  gradual — Many  complications — Labor  and  wait 288 


INTRODUCTORY. 

ITH  those  who  j)rophGsy  the  speedy  triumph  of 
Romanism  in  this  country  we  have  little  sym- 
pathy ;  with  those  who  counsel  supreme  indifFer- 
ence  to  her  increased  activity,  less  still.  Whilst 
— as  a  comparison  of  statistics  clearly  proves — there  is 
no  just  cause  for  alarm  on  the  part  of  the  friends  of 
civil  liberty,  there  are  reasons  many  and  cogent  why 
Protestants  should  put  forth  their  most  strenuous  efforts 
to  defeat  the  wily  machinations  of  their  arch-enemy, 
and  to  give  the  masses  the  only  true  antidote  to  Popery, 
the  simple,  unadulterated  Gospel.  This  call  to  re- 
doubled exertion  is  found  not  simply  in  the  fact  that 
the  Papacy  is  by  necessity  bitterly  hostile  to  the  true 
Church  and  to  Republicanism,  but  especially  in  its  recent 
energy  and  growth.  Earnest  effort  and  unwearied 
vigilance  are  duties  we  owe  alike  to  ourselves  and  to 
God.  If  activity  is  essential  to  healthful  piety ;  if  tlie 
truth  as  taught  by  Christ  is  in  its  very  nature  aggres- 
sive ;  if  the  true  Church  of  God  can  fulfil  its  mission  in 
the  world  only  by  conscientiously  endeavoring  to  obey 
the  commands  of  its  ascended  Lord ;  if,  as  every  well 
instructed  Protestant  firmly  believes.  Popery  is  the  un- 
compromising enemy  of  genuine  Christianity,  and  of 

11 


12  INTRODUCTORY. 

Republican  forms  of  government,  then  most  assuredly 
Protestants  should  exert  themselves  to  counteract  the 
unparalleled  efforts  now  made  to  extend  Rome's  baneful 
system  of  spiritual  despotism  over  a  country  dedicated 
to  Protestantism  and  civil  liberty. 

The  subjoined  figures  show  a  remarkable  growth  of 
Romanism  in  the  last  thirty  years.  There  were  in  the- 
United  States  in 

1840  1870 

Dioceses 13  53 

Vicariates-Apostolic 0  9 

Bishops 12  62 

Priests 373  3483 

Churches  and  Stations..              300  5219 

Catholic  Population....  1,500,000  5,000,000  * 

This  condensed  view  fails  in  giving  an  adequate  idea 
of  the  full  strength  of  the  Papal  Church  in  the  United 
States.  In  several  of  the  dioceses  the  numbers  are  not 
given.  Moreover,  in  addition  to  their  regular  priests, 
they  have  about  2000  seculars,  and  nearly  1000  clerical 
students.  To  these  cohorts  of  Rome  must  be  added 
several  thousand  "religious"  in  286  nunneries  and  128 
monasteries.  Imperfect  as  the  figures  are,  however, 
they  show  a  remarkable  increase  in  the  last  three  de- 
cades. Their  dioceses  have  more  than  quadrupled ; 
their  bishops  quintupled.  Their  churches  are  now 
seventeen  times  more  numerous  than  in  1840;  their 
priests  nine  times.-j' 

*  See  "Catholic  Directory  and  Ordo." 

t  At  their  present  rate  of  increase — without  supposing  that  num- 
bers shall  give  them  greater  efficiency,  and  correspondingly  more  rapid 


INTRODUCTORY. 


13 


It  is  indeed  true  that  during  the  same  period  Protest- 
antism has  greatly  added  to  its  numbers.  And  if  it 
had  kept  pace  with  its  adversary,  there  would  be  little, 
if  indeed  any,  ground  for  fear.  But  what  are  the  facts? 
Is  the  Catholic  increase  only  absolute,  or  is  it  an  in- 
crease relative  to  Protestants?  In  1840,  of  the  entire 
population,  one-twelfth  was  Catholic;  now  about  one- 
seventh  is.  And  of  the  large  number  belonging  to  no 
creed,  the  Papal  Church,  which  is  to  an  alarming  extent 
a  political  organization,  can  effectually  control  at  least 
its  proportion.  It  is  the  constant  boast  of  their  papers 
that  if  our  nation  is  "  Non-Catholic,"  it  is  certainly  "Non- 
Protestant;"  that  they  are  as  numerous  as  the  mem- 
bers of  the  dissevered  branches  of  the  "damnable 
heresy,"  and  are  therefore — even  in  point  of  numbers, 
to  say  nothing  of  divine  right — entitled  to  control  the 
future  destinies  of  this  country.* 

The  number  of  their  priests  is  indeed  small  when 

growth — they  will  have  in  1900,  Dioceses  and  Vicariates- Apostolic 
295  ;  Bishops  320  ;  Priests  32,497  ;  Churches  and  Preaching  Stations 
903,322  ;  Catholic  Population  16,006,666. 

»  *   SUMMARY   OF   EVAJSTGELICISM  IK   THE   UNITED   STATES  : 

Denominations.  Churches.         Clergymen.     Communicants. 


Baptists  (Regular  and  Free  Will)... 

Congregationalists 

Episcopalians 

Lutherans 

Methodists  (all  branches) 

Presbyterians  (all  branches) 

Reformed  (Dutch  and  German) 

Moravians 


Total. 


Churches. 

Clergymen. 

16,422 

9,948 

3,043 

3,168 

2,512 

2,762 

3,392 

1,926 

15,509 

25,021 

7,262 

6,833 

1,633 

1,019 

3,663 

1,647 

53,436 

52,324 

1,282,593 
300,362 
176,686 
388,538 

2,447,993 
687,373 
279,354 
108,122 

5,071,021 


14  INTRODUCTORY. 

compared  with  the  number  of  Protestant  ministers; 
they  are  sufficient,  however,  to  manage  the  affairs  of 
the  Ciiurch  with  energy  and  zeal.  And  an  alarming 
feature  in  their  rapidly  increasing  number  is  that  many 
— and  among  these  the  most  intelligent,  zealous,  effi- 
cient and  intolerant — are  American  bom :  Bronson, 
Doane,  Hecker,  and  a  long  list  of  others,  sons  of  Metho- 
dists, Episcopalians,  Congregationalists,  and  Presbyte- 
rians. 

'And  all,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  archbishops, 
bishops,  priests,  Jesuits,  monks  and  nuns,  are  assidu- 
ously engaged  in  advancing  the  interests  of  Rome. 
One  will  controls  all.  The  entire  country,  from  Maine 
to  California,  from  Oregon  to  Florida,  is  comprised  in 
the  field  of  their  operations.  Divided  into  seven  pro- 
vinces, embracing  fifty-three  dioceses  and  nine  vicariates- 
apostolic,  each  under  the  watchful  eye  of  a  bishop, 
there  is  no  section  of  this  broad  land  but  Rome  claims 
as  her  own.  Wherever  the  interests  of  Popery  can 
be  subserved,  a  preaching  station  is  established,  an 
academy  founded,  or  schools  opened.  As  the  tide  of 
emigration  rolls  westward,'  Romanism  is  always  the 
first  to  erect  hospitals,  to  build  churches,  and  to  open 
institutions  for  the  instruction  of  the  young.  We  are 
learning  by  experience  the  truth  of  the  European 
proverb : — "  Discover  a  desert  island,  and  the  priest  is 
waiting  for  you  on  the  shore."  \ 

Great  shrewdness  is  also  shown  in  the  disposition  of 
the   men   and   means  at   their   disposal.      Points   are 


INTIi  OD  UCTOR  Y.  \  5 

selected  which  may  become  centres  of  influence.  Their 
strength  is  not  frittered  away  in  sparsely  settled  rural 
districts ;  but  establishing  themselves  in  state  capitals, 
county  towns,  and  rapidly  growing  cities,  they  effect- 
ually guard  the  interests  of  Rome  in  all  the  surround- 
ing country,  moulding  public  opinion,  securing  influence 
with  those  who  control  legislation,  and  in  many 
instances — to  the  burning  shame  of  Protestantism — 
educating  the  children  of  those  in  the  communion  of 
the  true  Church. 

The  design  of  the  efforts  so  persistently  made  in  all 
parts  of  the  west,  is  clearly  announced  in  a  Catholic 
paper  in  Boston  : — '•  Catholics  should  control  and  sway 
the  west.  The  Church  has  the  right  to  claim  the 
immense  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  of  which  the  Jesuit 
missionaries  were  the  first  explorers." 

And  in  the  south  they  are  no  less  active.  Organized 
efforts  are  made,  on  an  extensive  scale  and  with  a 
lavish  outlay  of  funds,  to  bring  the  freedmen  over  to 
Popery.  At  a  convention  of  bishops  held  a  few  years 
since  in  Baltimore,  measures  to  secure  this  end  were 
adopted.  The  precaution  required  by  the  Papal 
Church,  of  conducting  their  proceedings  with  closed 
doors,  renders  it  impossible  for  us  heretics  to  learn  all 
that  was  done  by  these  assembled  dignitaries.  That 
agencies  were  inaugurated  to  proselyte  the  colored  race 
on  this  continent  is  beyond  question.  And  that  the 
measures  adopted  and  referred  to  the  Pope  for  con- 
firmation— whatever  they  were — received  his  approval, 


1 6  INTROD  UCTOR  Y. 

may  be  confidently  inferred  from  the  fact  that  the 
"  Society  for  Propagating  the  Faith,"  whose  office  is  at 
Rome,  straightway  contributed  $600,000  in  gold  for 
one  year's  missionary  work  among  the  freedmen  in 
our  country.  Is  it  not  fair  to  assume  that  a  contribu- 
tion so  large  presupposes  effective  agencies  for  carrying 
forward  the  work  on  a  scale  corresponding  with  the 
cost?  Jesuits — who,  in  worldly  wisdom,  if  not  in 
purity  of  purpose,  have  always  been  pre-eminent — 
seldom  invest  without  securing  large  dividends,  muni- 
ficent returns,  in  blind  attachment  to  the  interests  of 
Rome. 

Lavish  expenditure  is  immediately  succeeded  by 
organized  efibrt.  With  a  celerity  evincing  great  earn- 
estness, sixty-six  Romish  priests  were  landed  in  New 
Orleans  to  commence  missionary  efforts.  And  these, 
we  are  informed,  are  only  the  pioneers,  whose  business 
it  is  to  examine  the  field  of  operations,  and  report  to 
their  superiors  the  force  needed,  and  the  points  where 
labor  can  be  most  advantageously  prosecuted.  Already 
they  have  opened  large,  well-equipped  schools  for  the 
blacks  at  Raleigh,  a-t  Mobile,  at  New  Orleans,  and  at 
many  other  important  centres  of  influence.  And  most 
of  these  institutions  are  successful  to  an  extent  quite 
disheartening  to  the  friends  of  Protestantism.  They 
have  drawn  largely  from  the  schools  opened  by  the 
benevolence  of  the  northern  Church,  and  in  some  in- 
stances have  driven  their  rivals  from  the  field. 

To  most  Protestants,  we  presume,  it  is  but  too  pain- 


INTRODUCTORY.  17 

fully  evident  that  the  Romish  Church,  by  its  gorgeous 
displays,  is  well  fitted  to  secure  a  powerful  influence 
over  the  hearts  of  a  half-civilized  people.  Enslaved  by 
ignorance,  naturally  fond  of  show,  and  taught  by  long 
years  of  servitude  to  yield  an  unquestioning  obedience, 
they  are  quite  as  likely  to  accept  the  religion  presented 
them  by  Rome  as  the  simple  unostentatious  Gospel  of 
Christ.  A  future  not  very  remote  may,  therefore, 
possibly  witness  a  control  maintained  by  the  Romish 
Church  over  this  helpless  race  as  complete  as  that  now 
exercised  over  the  Irish — a  spiritual  despotism  more 
debasing  in  its  character  and  more  permanent  in  its 
nature  than  the  slavery  from  which  they  have  so 
recently  emerged. 

Not  alone  in  the  west  and  south,  but  in  the  east  as 
well,  especially  in  our  large  cities,  Rome  is  laboring  un- 
tiringly to  acquire  power.  Magnificent  churches  are 
built,  hospitals  founded,  nunneries  and  monasteries  es- 
tablished, schools  opened,  tracts  and  pamphlets  distri- 
buted gratuitously,  and  popular  lectures — designed  to 
prove  that  Popery  is  the  guardian  of  morals,  the  friend 
of  civil  liberty,  the  educator  of  the  masses,  the  dispenser 
of  charities  to  the  poor,  the  inspirer  of  true  devotion, 
and  the  only  gateway  to  heaven — are  frequently  and 
unblushingiy  delivered  in  the  very  heart  of  cities  which 
owe  all  their  greatness  to  the  principles  of  the  Protest- 
ant religion.  Nor  have  these  efforts  proved  abortive, 
as  New  York,  alas,  can  clearly  testify.  In  the  centres 
of  wealth  and  culture,  which  invited  those  possessing  a 


X8  INTRODUCTORY. 

religion  intensely  hostile  to  our  free  institutions,  Ro- 
manism has  proved  a  Grecian  horse,  disgorging  a  legion 
of  enemies.  Lawlessness,  excessive  taxation,  political 
corruption,  and  utter  contempt  for  the  interests  and 
wishes  of  the  people,  have  followed  as  naturally  as 
darkness  succeeds  sunset. 

In  Rome's  list  of  agencies,  schools  occupy  a  promi- 
nent place.  If  these  imparted  only  secular  knowledge, 
the  principles  of  morality  and  a  system  of  religious 
faith  free  from  superstition,  all  true  friends  of  the  rising 
generation  might  indeed  rejoice.  But,  alas,  the  instruc- 
tion is  intensely  Popish.  Avowedly — except  in  the 
case  of  Protestant  children,  and  there  in  reality — the 
primary  object  is  to  make  the  pupils  ardent  advocates 
of  Romanism.  Her  seventy  ecclesiastical  institutions, 
her  hundreds  of  colleges  and  boarding  schools,  her  2500 
parochial  schools,  and  her  Sunday-schools  in  connection 
with  almost  every  church,  are  so  many  nurseries  of 
Popery,  agencies  for  riveting  the  chains  of  spiritual 
despotism  on  the  coming  generation. 

The  design  of  these  efforts  is  plain ;  Romanists  are 
aiming  at  power  in  this  country.  We  need  not  delude 
ourselves  with  the  belief  that  they  seek  only  the  eternal 
welfare  of  our  people.  The  aspirations  of  the  Papacy 
in  all  countries  during  its  entire  history  of  thirteen 
centuries  have  been  to  become  dominant  in  the  state. 
And  we  can  scarcely  hope  that  an  infallible  Church  will 
change  its  character  at  this  late  day.  If  the  power  for 
which  they  toil  so  arduously  is  acquired,  there  can  be 


INTROD  UCTOR  Y.  19 

no  doubt  of  the  results.  Protestantism  will  be  perse- 
cuted, perhaps  suppressed,  as  heretofore  in  Rome,  and 
our  free  Bible,  free  schools,  and  free  press  will  be  things 
of  the  past.  Possibly  some  Protestants  with  a  smile 
of  contempt  may  affirm,  "  Romanism,  at  least  in  this 
country,  is  a  friend  of  liberty."  Let  them  point,  how- 
ever, to  the  country  or  the  time  in  which  Popery  has 
not  opposed  a  will  of  iron  to  all  free  institutions.  * 

In  estimating  the  strength  of  the  organization  which 
seeks  our  destruction,  we  should  remember  that  the 
5,000,000  of  our  citizens  whose  first  allegiance  is  due 
to  Rome  are  drilled  to  implicit  obedience  and  directed 
by  one  will :  that  their  plans  are  cunningly  masked, 
while  ours — if  indeed  we  have  any — are  well  known  : 
that  they  are  a  unit  in  action,  waging  an  unceasing 
warfare,  resolved  on  victory;  we,  disconnected  bands, 
without  unity  of  purpose,  carrying  on  at  best  but  a  fit- 
ful struggle.  Moreover,  since  they  are  thoroughly  un- 
scrupulous in  the  use  of  means,  they  necessarily  wield 
more  power  with  the  irreligious  masses  than  we.  Pos- 
sibly also  the  tendency  to  ritualistic  forms,  so  apparent 
in  certain  quarters,  may  prepare  the  way  for  Popery 
by  producing  a  love  of  meaningless  rites  and  imposing 
ceremonies. 

*  A  Catholic  paper  of  St.  Louis  said,  not  many  years  since  :  "  We 
are  not  advocates  of  religious  toleration  except  in  cases  of  necessity. 
.  .  .  .  We  are  not  going  to  deny  the  facts  of  history,  or  blame 
the  Church  and  her  saints  and  doctors,  for  doing  what  they  have 

done  and  sanctioned We  gain  nothing  by  declaiming 

against  the  doctrine  of  civil  punishment  for  spiritual  crimes."    ; 


20  JNTR  OD UCTOR  Y. 

Facts  like  these,  and  numerous  others  which  might 
be  adduced,  make  it  but  too  painfully  evident  that 
there  is  more  than  an  idle  boast  in  the  assertion  of  the 
Catholic  World,  that  ^'  The  question  put  to  us  a  few 
years  since  with  a  smile  of  mixed  incredulity  and  pity, 
'  Do  you  believe  that  this  country  will  ever  become 
Catholic?'  is  changed  into  the  question,  ^How  soon  do 
you  think  it  will  come  to  pass  ? '  Soon,  very  soon,  we 
reply,  if  statistics  be  true,  for  it  apj^ears  ....  that 
the  rate  of  growth  of  the  Catholic  religion  has  been  75 
per  cent,  greater  than  the  ratio  of  increase  of  popula- 
tion ;  Avhile  the  rate  of  the  increase  of  Protestantism 
has  been  11  per  cent,  less."  The  Bishop  of  Cincinnati 
said,  in  1866  :  "  Effectual  plans  are  in  operation  to  give 
us  the  complete  victory  over  Protestantism."  Another 
bishop  affirms  :  "  Notwithstanding  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  has  thought  fit  to  adopt  a  complete 
indifference  towards  all  religions,  yet,  the  time  is  com- 
ing when  the  Catholics  will  have  the  ascendancy." 
The  Bishop  of  Charleston,  in  his  report  to  Rome,  said : 
"  Within  thirty  years  the  Protestant  heresy  will  come 
to  an  end."  The  Pilot,  a  Catholic  paper  of  Boston,  re- 
cently affirmed :  ''  The  man  is  to-day  living  who  will 
see  a  majority  of  the  people  of  the  American  continent 
Roman  Catholics."  "  Let  Protestants  hate  us  if  they 
w^ll,"  says  another  Catholic  paper,  "  but  the  time  will 
come  when  we  will  compel  them  to  respect  us."  Should 
that  day  ever  arrive,  we  may  expect  little  favor  from  a 
Church,  all  of  whose  priests,  according  to  the  assertion 


INTRODUCTORY.  21 

of  one  of  their  number,  "  swear,  we  will  persecute  this 
cursed  evangelical  doctrine  as  long  as  we  have  a  drop 
of  blood  in  our  veins ;  and  we  will  eradicate  it,  secretly 
and  publicly,  violently  and  deceitfully,  luitli  luords  and 
deeds,  iJie  sicord  not  excluded." 

Though  there  may  be  no  just  cause  for  alarm,  there 
certainly  is  an  imperative  call  to  action.  Their  oft- 
repeated  prophecy,  that  from  twenty-five  to  thirty 
years  will  suffice  to  give  them  a  clear  majority  in  this 
country — however  absurd  it  may  now  seem  to  many — 
ought  to  arouse  us  to  renewed  exertion.  If  Papists 
conquered  Rome,  why  may  they  not  conquer  America? 
Is  it  so  utterly  impossible  that  the  next  generation 
should  witness  the  supremacy  of  Romanism  that  we 
can  afford  to  fold  our  arms  in  ease  ?  *  Possessing  the 
balance  of  power  between  the  two  political  parties,  de- 
manding favorable  legislation  as  the  condition  of  sup- 
port, and  wielding  political  power  in  some  of  our  largest 
cities,  Popery  is  a  foe  whose  giant  strength  it  is  folly 
to  underestimate.     Already  it  has  succeeded  in  banish- 

*  Speaking  of  the  Papacy,  Mr.  Disraeli  said,  in  1835:  "What  is 
this  power  beneath  whose  sirocco  breath  the  fame  of  England  is  fast 
withering  ?  AVei-e  it  the  dominion  of  another  Conqueror — another 
Bold  Bastard  with  his  belted  sword — we  might  gnaw  the  fetters 
which  we  cannot  burst.  Were  it  the  genius  of  Napoleon  with  which 
we  were  again  struggling,  we  might  trust  the  issue  to  the  God  of 
battles,  with  a  sainted  confidence  in  our  good  cause  and  our  national 
energies.  But  we  are  sinking  beneath  a  power  before  which  the 
proudest  conquerors  have  gi-own  pale,  and  by  which  the  nations  most 
devoted  to  freedom  have  become  enslaved — the  power  of  a  foreign 
priesthood." 


22  I^TR OD  UCTOR  Y. 

ing  the  Bible  from  some  of  our  public  schools,  and  in 
securing,  in  some  instances  in  marked  degree,  the  ad- 
vocacy of  its  interests  in  the  secular  press.  A  contest 
between  the  Papacy  and  Protestantism  seems  therefore 
inevitable.  Other  names  may  be  substituted — Jesuit- 
ism can  readily  devise  those  that  will  better  answer  its 
purpose.  Under  the  banner  of  civil  liberty  Rome  may 
possibly  bind  upon  us  the  fetters  of  spiritual  despotism. 


PART    I. 

Popery  the  Predicted  Enemy  of  Christ's  Kingdom. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE    ROMAN    POWER   FORETOLD. 
(Daniel  ii.  31-45.) 

OMEWHAT  like  the  fabled  Sphinx,  who,  sitting 
by  the  roadside,  propounded  her  riddle  to  each 
passer-by,  Popery  has  for  centuries  demanded 
an  explanation  of  her  seemingly  charmed  life. 
And  he  who  has  presumed  to  give  an  answer  not  in 
accordance  with  her  arrogant  assumptions,  has  in- 
curred her  lasting  enmity ;  where  she  had  the  power, 
death.  If  she  comes  forth  from  God,  however,  as  she 
claims,  how  shall  we  account  for  the  errors,  the  follies 
and  the  crimes  that  blacken  her  name  ?  If  she  is  the 
outgrowth  of  the  depraved  heart,  or  Satan's  cunning- 
est  workmanship,  how  explain  her  continued  power, 
her  seemingly  deathless  life  ?  Unquestionably  the 
explanation  is  found  in  the  fact  that  God,  for  infinitely 
wise  purposes  unknown  to  us,  permits  the  continuance 
of  this  organized  adversary  of  the  true  Church  for  the 
express  purpose  of  testing  the  intelligence,  the  fidelity, 
and  the  zeal  of  his  people. 

Should  we  not  expect  a  prediction  of  the  rise  and 
progress  of  Popery  ?  This  would  be  in  accordance 
with  God's  usual  mode  of   dealing  with  his  Church. 

25 


26  THE   ROMAN  POWER   FORETOLD. 

Jehovah's  purpose  of  destroying  the  world  by  a  flood 
was  made  known  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  before 
its  execution.  The  destruction  of  Babylon,  Nineveh, 
Tyre  and  Jerusalem,  was  accurately  predicted.  So 
likewise  it  was  declared  that  the  descendants  of  Abra- 
ham should  be  as  numerous  as  the  stars  of  heaven, 
when  as  yet  he  had  no  child ;  and  that  the  land  of 
Palestine  should  be  their  possession  when  the  Father 
of  the  Faithful  owned  not  even  a  burial-place  for  his 
dead.  Not  only  was  the  coming  of  Christ  predicted 
immediately  after  the  transgression  of  our  first  parents, 
but  in  subsequent  ages,  and  long  prior  to  the  incarna- 
tion, many  circumstances  of  his  birth,  mission,  life  and 
death — and  some  apparently  the  least  important — were 
foretold. 

Nor  are  the  prophecies  mere  isolated  predictions  of 
disconnected  events.  A  system  dating  from  the  fall, 
and  embracing  all  the  principal  changes  which  have 
taken  place  in  either  the  Church  or  the  world,  and 
extending  onwards  to  the  final  triumph  of  Christ's 
cause,  may  be  found  in  Scripture. 

We  should  not,  however,  expect  predictions  respect- 
ing minute  particulars.  The  portraiture  of  the  future 
given  by  the  prophets,  is  like  the  vivid  description  of 
a  landscape  viewed  from  a  commanding  eminence. 
Although  the  eye  of  the  beholder  surveys  the  whole 
extent,  seeing  all  prominent  objects,  yet,  by  describing 
those  which  from  his  standpoint  are  most  conspicuous, 
he  presents  a  picture,  imperfect  indeed,  yet  accurate, 


THE  ROMAN  POWER    FORETOLD.  27 

of  the  scene.  What  description  by  a  master  hand  is 
to  the  landscape,  the  predictions  of  the  prophets  are  to 
the  future.  To  complete  the  picture  the  reader  must 
determine  the  position  occupied  by  the  seer  in  behold- 
ing the  ceaseless  current  of  events. 

Hence,  doubtless,  arises  the  difficulty  in  interpreting 
prophecy.  We  are  embarrassed  not  so  much  by  what 
is  said  as  by  what  is  left  unsaid.  To  unveil  the  half- 
hidden  meaning  of  a  few  sentences  in  which  is  com- 
pressed the  history  of  centuries  is  almost  or  quite 
impossible.  Shall  we,  therefore,  give  over  all  effort  to 
understand  the  prophetical  books  ?  Is  so  large  a  por- 
tion of  the  Bible  given  us  merely  to  confirm  the  faith 
of  the  Church  after  the  events  referred  to  have  oc- 
curred? This  cannot  be,  otherwise  the  command, 
"  Search  the  Scripture,"  w^ould  have  read,  '  Search  the 
Law,  the  Psalms,  and  the  fulfilled  prophecies.' 

In  the  field  of  prophecy,  co-extensive  with  time,  and 
earnestly  soliciting  an  unprejudiced  examination,  we 
are  led  naturally  to  expect  some  predictions  respecting 
the  rise  and  progress  of  Popery.  It  is  highly  impro- 
bable, scarcely  possible,  that  no  place  should  be  found 
for  a  system  of  religion  which,  numbering  its  adhe- 
rents by  millions,  has  existed  for  more  than  twelve 
centuries,  and  while  professing  to  be  the  only  true 
form  of  Christian  worship,  and  claiming  for  its  eccle- 
siastical head  the  titles  of  "  Vicar  of  Christ"  and 
^'^ Vicegerent  of  God"  has  not  hesitated  to  claim  and 
exercise  the  right  to  put  to  death  those  who,  however 


28  THE   ROMAN  POWER   FORETOLD. 

devout,  humble  and  Christlike  in  character  and  con- 
duct, have  denied  its  spiritual  supremacy. 

An  examination  of  prophecy,  even  the  most  casual, 
reveals,  in  the  Old  Testament,  two  passages  which 
refer  to  the  Roman  Empire ;  the  former  chiefly  to  its 
civil,  the  latter  to  its  ecclesiastical  power.  In  Nebu- 
chadnezzar's dream  (Dan.  ii.  31-45),  we  have  a  pre- 
diction of  the  rise  of  the  powerful  kingdom  of  the 
west,  which,  during  so  many  centuries,  has  lent  its 
strength  to  sustain  the  Papal  Church : 

"  Thou,  0  king,  sawest,  and  behold,  a  great  image.  This  great 
image,  whose  brightness  was  excellent,  stood  before  thee ;  and  the 
form  thereof  was  terrible.  This  image's  head  was  of  fine  gold,  his 
breast  ^nd  his  arms  of  silver,  his  belly  and  his  thighs  of  brass,  his 
legs  of  iron,  his  feet  part  of  iron  and  part  of  clay.  Thou  sawest 
till  that  a  stone  was  cut  out  without  hands,  which  smote  the  imasre 
upon  his  feet  that  were  of  iron  and  clay,  and  brake  them  to  pieces. 
Then  was  the  iron,  the  clay,  the  brass,  the  silver,  and  the  gold, 
broken  to  pieces  together,  and  became  like  the  chaff  of  the  summer 
threshing-floors ;  and  the  wind  carried  them  away,  that  no  place 
was  found  for  them  :  and  the  stone  that  smote  the  image  became  a 
great  mountain,  and  filled  the  whole  earth." 

Here  are  presented  two,  and  only  two  distinct 
objects — "the  great  image,"  and  "the  stone  cut  out 
without  hands."  Although  the  image  has  its  several 
parts — by  which  four  successive  kingdoms  are  repre- 
sented— these  constitute  the  one  great  figure  symbol- 
izing a  form  of  civil  government  essentially  hostile  to 
the  t  Church,  government  by  brute  force,  despotism. 
In  all  the  members  the  same  spirit  prevails,  hostility 


THE   ROMAN  POWER    FORETOLD.  29 

to  the  kingdom  set  up  by  the  God  of  heaven.  Though 
having  '•  his  head  of  fine  gold,  his  arms  of  silver,  his 
belly  and  his  thighs  of  brass,  his  legs  of  iron,  his  feet 
part  of  iron  and  part  of  clay,"  yet  this  image  forcibly 
presents  the  idea  of  unity.  This,  which  is  set  forth  by 
the  first  symbol  of  the  dream,  is  still  more  distinctly 
represented  by  the  second.  The  little  stone — not 
separated  into  members,  but  one  and  indivisible — is 
well  fitted  to  symbolize  the  one  spiritual  kingdom,  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  whose  unity  is  preserved  by 
the  indwelling  of  the  same  spirit.  As  the  invisible 
atoms  of  the  stone  of  necessity  cohere,  so  the  different 
members  of  Christ's  Church,  however  far  separated  in 
space  or  time,  constitute  one  spiritual  kingdom. 

By  the  several  parts  of  this  figure  are  represented 
the  four  kingdoms,  the  universal  empires  of  the  world. 
"The  head  of  fine  gold"  is  a  symbol  of  the  Assyrio- 
Babylonian  Empire,  founded,  in  the  valley  of  the 
Euphrates,  by  Nimrod,  the  grandson  of  Noah.  Of  this 
kingdom  the  chief  cities  were  Babylon  and  Nineveh.* 
"  The  breast  and  arms  of  silver  "  represented  the  Medo- 
Persian  Empire,  founded  by  Cyrus  on  the  ruins  of  the 
Assyrio-Babylonian.  It  is  probably  not  pressing  the 
symbol  too  far  to  suppose  that  by  the  arms  are  repre- 
sented the  two  nations,  the  Medes  and  Persians, 
which   uniting  constituted  this   kingdom.     The   third 

*  These  alternatively  held  each  other  in  subjection  till  the  year  625 
B.  c,  when  ZSTineveh  was  finally  overthrown  by  the  combined  forces 
of  the  Medes  and  of  Xabopolassar. 


30  THE   ROMAN  POWER   FORETOLD. 

kingdom,  symbolized  by  "the  belly  and  thighs  of 
brass,"  was  the  Grseco-Macedonian,  founded  by  Alex- 
ander the  Great.  Before  this  victorious  warrior  the 
preceding  kingdoms  crumbled  to  pieces,  and  the  king- 
dom of  brass  ruled  the  world.  The  two  thighs  may  be 
intended  to  represent  the  two  most  powerful  divisions 
of  this  kingdom — the  Ptolemies  in  Egypt,  and  the 
Seleucidge  in  Syria. 

The  fourth  kingdom  is  the  Roman.*  In  reference 
to  this  the  prophecy  is  fuller,  both  as  respects  its  char- 
acter and  its  collision  with  the  little  stone.  Its  form 
of  government,  partly  despotic  and  partly  republican, 
combining  the  strength  of  iron  with  the  brittleness  of 
clay,  is  represented  by  "  the  legs  of  iron  and  the  feet 
part  of  iron  and  part  of  clay."  Whereas  the  former 
three  kingdoms  were  pure  despotisms,  this,  whilst  even 
more  despotic,  as  S3^mbolized  by  the  harder  metal, 
iron,  always  contained  an  element  of  weakness. 
Under  the  form  of  a  republic — which  was  often  little 
more  than  a  name — it  maintained  a  stronger  hold  on 
the  affections  of  its  subjects,  and,  therefore,  secured 
longer  continuance.  Yet,  whilst  always  endeavoring 
to  convert  the  fragility  of  clay  into  the  hardness  of 
iron,  it  failed  in  the  end,  and  crumbled  to  pieces. 

"And  the  fourth  kingdom  shall  be  strong  as  iron:  forasmuch  as 
iron  breaketh  in  pieces  and  subdueth  all  things :  and  as  iron  that 
breaketh   all   these,  shall   it   break    in   pieces   and   bruise.     And 

*  Rome  was  founded  in  753  B.  c,  about  150  years  before  the  utter- 
ance of  Daniel's  prophecy. 


THE   ROMAN  POWER   FORETOLD.  31 

whereas  thou  sawest  the  feet  and  toes  part  of  potter's  clay  and 
part  of  iron,  the  kingdom  shall  be  divided ;  but  there  shall  be  in 
it  of  the  strength  of  the  iron,  forasmuch  as  thou  sawest  the  irou 
mixed  with  miry  clay.  And  as  the  toes  of  the  feet  were  part  of 
iron,  and  part  of  clay,  so  the  kingdom  shall  be  partly  strong,  and 
partly  broken.  And  whereas  thou  sawest  iron  mixed  with  miry 
clay,  they  shall  mingle  themselves  with  the  seed  of  men ;  but  they 
shall  not  cleave  one  to  another,  even  as  iron  is  not  mixed  with 
clay.  And  in  the  days  of  these  kings  shall  the  God  of  heaven  set 
up  a  kingdom,  which  shall  never  be  destroyed :  and  the  kingdom 
shall  not  be  left  to  other  people,  but  it  shall  break  in  pieces  and 
consume  all  these  kingdoms,  and  it  shall  stand  for  ever.  Foras- 
much as  thou  sawest  that  the  stone  was  cut  out  of  the  mountain 
without  hands,  and  that  it  brake  in  pieces  the  iron,  the  brass,  the 
clay,  the  silver,  and  the  gold ;  the  great  God  hath  made  known  to 
the  king  what  shall  come  to  pass  hereafter :  and  the  dream  is  cer- 
tain, and  the  interpretation  thereof  sure." — Dan.  ii.  40-45. 

Here  it  is  expressly  said  that  "  the  fourth  kingdom 
shall  be  strong  as  iron,  and  break  in  pieces  and 
bruise."  During  its  existence  as  a  limited  monarchy 
(nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty  years),  it  gradually  ex- 
tended its  power  till  all  the  surrounding  nations  fell 
before  its  victorious  arms.  The  exact  date  of  its 
succession  to  the  kingdom  of  brass  we  cannot  fix. 
Of  the  fact,  however,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  From 
the  year  509  to  48  b.  c,  during  her  existence  as  a 
republic,  Rome  extended  her  conquests  over  a  great 
part  of  Asia,  Africa  and  Europe.  Britain  was  twice 
entered.  Caesar's  legions  penetrated  to  the  heart  of 
Germany.  Macedon,  Syria  and  Egj^t  were  conquered. 
After   the   battle   of  Pharsalia    (48    B.  c),  in   which 


32  THE   ROMAN  POWER   FORETOLD. 

Pompey,  the  commander  of  the  armies  of  the  republic, 
was  utterly  defeated  by  Csesar,  the  government  was 
imperial  rather  than  republican.  For  five  hundred 
and  twenty-four  years  subsequent  to  this,  the  emperors, 
for  the  most  part,  were  content  with  retaining  those 
provinces  which  were  conquered  under  the  republic. 
The  advice  bequeathed  by  Augustus,  of  confining  the 
empire  within  its  natural  limits,  the  Euphrates,  the 
Desert  of  Africa,  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  the  Rhine 
and  Danube,  was  seldom  departed  from.  A  few  ex- 
ceptions there  indeed  were.  Britain  was  made  to 
submit  to  the  Koman  yoke  during  the  reign  of  Domi- 
tian;  Dacia,  Armenia  and  Assyria  during  that  of 
Trajan. 

The  fourth  kingdom  was,  as  Daniel  had  predicted, 
strong  as  iron,  enduring  in  its  three  forms,  of  a  mon- 
archy, a  republic  and  an  empire,  for  more  than  twelve 
centuries,  and  wielding,  for  nearly  the  half  of  this  long 
period,  the  sceptre  of  universal  dominion.  During  all 
the  ages  of  its  existence,  however,  it  was  "  iron  mixed 
with  miry  clay."  It  was  never  a  firmly  consolidated 
empire.  It  was  the  unnatural  union  of  despotism  and 
democracy. 

Of  the  Roman  state,  the  fourth  section  of  the  image, 
Daniel  declared,  "the  kingdom  shall  be  divided." 
The  ten  toes,  like  the  ten  horns  of  the  fourth  beast, 
(Dan.  vii.  24,  and  Rev.  xvii.  16,)  represent  the  ten 
kingdoms  established  on  the  fall  of  the  empire.  "  The 
fourth  beast  shall  be  the  fourth  kiligdom 


THE   ROMAN  POWER   FORETOLD.  33 

And  the  ten  horns  out  of  this  kingdom  are  ten  kings 
that  shall  arise."  By  the  reasoning  of  Bishop  Newton, 
it  has  been  successfully  established  that  these  ten 
kingdoms  should  be  looked  for  in  the  Western  Roman 
Empire,  that  portion  of  the  fourth  kingdom  which  was 
no  part  of  the  preceding  three.  As  to  the  powers 
constituting  them,  however,  diversity  of  opinion  always 
has,  and  perhaps  always  will,  exist. 

By  the  words,  "they  shall  not  cleave  one  to  an- 
other," we  have,  perhaps,  a  prediction  that  the  ten 
kingdoms  shall  never  again  be  united  in  one  empire. 
Certain  it  is,  that  since  476  (the  date  of  the  downfall 
of  the  Roman  Empire  generally  received)  they  have, 
with  ^'cry  slight  changes,  remained  territorially  the 
same. 

By  "the  stone  cut  out  of  the  mountain  without 
hands"  is  symbolized  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  which 
"  the  God  of  heaven  shall  set  up,"  and  "  which  shall 
never  be  destroyed."  These  expressions,  and  espe- 
cially the  latter,  are  evidently  inapplicable  to  any  form 
of  civil  government.  "'  Cut  out  without  hands "  indi- 
cates God's  agency,  and  not  man's.  Of  the  "  kingdom 
not  of  this  world,"  all  the  benefits,  blessings  and  priv- 
ileges are  heaven's  free  gift  to  the  human  race.  And 
of  what  earthly  kingdom  could  perpetuity  be  predi- 
cated ?     Is  not  decay  written  on  all  ? 

Of  this  kingdom  two  states  are  he^e  prefigured ;  one 
of  comparative  insignificance,  represented  by  the  stone; 
one  of  widely  extended  and  powerful  influence,  synibo- 


34  THE    ROMAN  POWER    FORETOLD. 

lized  by  the  mountain.     The  same  gradual  growth  is 
alluded  to  in  Christ's  parable  of  the  Mustard  Seed, 

We  are  also  told  when  this  kingdom  shall  arise  : 
"  In  the  days  of  these  kings."  It  was  during  the  ex- 
istence of  the  last  of  the  four,  when  the  entire  world 
humbly  bowed  at  the  throne  of  the  proud  Caesars,  that 
God,  by  the  incarnation  of  his  Son,  set  up,  or  perhaps 
more  properly,  as  the  Latin  Vulgate  has  it,  '^'resus-- 
citated"  a  kingdom.  Having  existed  since  the  Fall,  it 
was  now  strengthened,  enlarged,  and  its  privileges  ex- 
tended to  the  Gentiles. 

In  this  entire  prophecy  reference  is  evidently  had  to 
the  rise  and  progress  of  that  empire  which,  divided 
into  ten  kingdoms,  has  given  its  power  and  strength  to 
Popery.  It  makes  war  with  the  Lamb.  It  is  the  enemy 
of  the  Church  and  of  Republicanism,  the  deadly  foe 
of  liberty,  civil  and  religious,  personal  and  national. 
With  democracy  it  can  form  no  alliance,  and  will  make 
no  compromise.  The  iron  will  not  mix  with  the  clay. 
With  Protestantism,  the  parent  and  champion  of  con- 
stitutional government,  it  wages  unceasing  warfare. 
Deriving  moral  support  from  Popery,  its  natural  ally, 
it  is  antagonistic  to  the  kingdom  of  the  little  stone,  so 
far  at  least  as  this  is  hostile  to  despotism. 

The  warfare,  desperate  and  deadly,  is  not  carried  on, 
however,  with  carnal  weapons.  Noiselessly,  but  with 
terrible  earnestness,  the  struggle  is  prolonged  through 
centuries.  Kingdoms  rise,  grow  hoary  with  age  and 
crumble  to  decay,  still  the  contest  is  undecided.     The 


THE  ROMAN  POWER   FORETOLD.  35 

three  kingdoms,  of  gold,  of  silver  and  of  brass,  have 
become  as  "  chaff  of  the  summer  threshing-floors,"  but 
the  stone  has  not  yet  become  a  great  mountain  filling 
the  whole  earth.  Nebuchadnezzar,  Cyrus,  Alexander 
and  Caesar,  sleep  in  their  unknown  graves,  but  not  as 
yet  have  the  feet  and  the  toes  of  the  great  image,  re- 
vealed in  the  palace  of  Shushan,  crumbled  to  pieces. 

Of  the  ten  kingdoms  which,  "with  one  mind  gave 
their  power  and  strength  unto  the  beast,"  some  are 
yielding  to  the  rule  of  Immanuel ;  others,  in  still  lend- 
ing their  strength  to  the  papal  Antichrist,  are  filling  to 
the  full  the  cup  of  wrath.  In  their  adulterous  alliance 
with  the  Mother  of  Harlots  they  are  aiding  in  sustain- 
ing a  system  which,  "composed  of  specious  truth  and 
solid  falsehood,"  is  at  war  with  the  fundamental  doc- 
trines of  the  Gospel.  The  Christian's  hope  is  sus- 
tained, however,  by  the  assurance,  "The  ten  horns 
which  thou  sawest  upon  the  beast,  these  shall  hate  the 
whore,  and  shall  make  her  desolate  and  naked,  and 
shall  eat  her  flesh,  and  bum  her  with  fire."  *  Of  Christ's 
kingdom  it  is  said,  "It  shall  break  in  pieces  and  con- 
sume all  these  kingdoms,  and  it  shall  stand  for  ever." 

*  Rev.  xvii.  16. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE    PAPACY  PREDICTED  AS  THE  FOE  OF  THE  TRUE  CHURCH 
(Daniel  vii.  2-27.) 

'T  is  the  assertion  of  Protestants  not  only  that 
Rome's  civil  power,  but  that  the  Papacy  itself, 
was  predicted  twelve  centuries  before  its  rise. 
Of  this  affirmation  the  truth  becomes  apparent 
if  to  a  description  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  image  be  added 
an  examination  of  Daniel's  vision ;  for  by  the  former 
is  foretold  Rome's  civil  despotism — by  the  latter,  her 
spiritual.  The  powers  represented  to  the  king  as  four 
kingdoms,  appeared  in  vision  to  the  prophet  as  four 
wild  beasts  trampling  upon  Christianity.  To  the 
monarch  even  the  Church  is  "a  kingdom  which  the 
God  of  heaven  should  set  up,"  small  indeed  in  its 
origin,  but  destined  to  fill  the  whole  earth;  to  the 
prophet  it  is  a  feeble  band  of  struggling  martyrs,  "  the 
saints  of  the  Most  High,"  oppressed  by  the  little  horn 
of  the  fourth  beast.  It  is  a  small  and  scattered  com- 
pany of  faithful  witnesses,  ground  down  by  the  Papal 
hierarchy  for  the  term  of  1260  years,  yet,  inspired 
with  faith  in  God's  promises,  suffering  in  the  assured 
hope  of  ultimate  triumph.     Daniel  says  : 

"  I  saw  in  my  vision  by  night,  and  beliold,  the  four  winds  of  the 
36 


PAPACY  THE    FOE    OF   THE    CHURCH.  37 

heaven  strove  upon  the  great  sea.  And  four  great  beasts  came 
up  from  the  sea,  diverse  one  from  another.  The  first  was  like  a 
lion,  and  had  eagle's  wings :  I  beheld  till  the  wings  thereof  were 
plucked,  and  it  waa  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  and  made  stand 
upon  the  feet  aa  a  man,  and  a  man's  heart  was  given  to  it.  And, 
behold,  another  beast,  a  second,  like  to  a  bear,  and  it  raised  up  it- 
self on  one  side,  and  it  had  three  ribs  in  the  mouth  of  it  between 
the  teeth  of  it :  and  they  said  thus  unto  it,  Arise,  devour  much 
flesh.  After  this,  I  beheld,  and  lo,  another,  like  a  leopard,  which 
had  upon  the  back  of  it  four  wings  of  a  fowl ;  the  beast  had  also 
four  heads ;  and  dominion  was  given  to  it  After  this  I  saw  in 
the  night  visions,  and  behold,  a  fourth  beast,  dreadful  and  terrible, 
and  strong  exceedingly ;  and  it  had  great  iron  teeth  :  it  devoured 
and  brake  in  pieces,  and  stamped  the  residue  with  the  feet  of  it : 
and  it  was  diverse  from  all  the  beasts  that  were  before  it ;  and  it 
had  ten  horns.  I  considered  the  horns,  and  behold,  there  came 
up  among  them  another  little  horn,  before  whom  there  were  three 
of  the  first  horns  plucked  up  by  the  roots :  and  behold,  in  this 
horn  were  eyes  like  the  eyes  of  man,  and  a  mouth  speaking  great 
things."— Dan.  vii.  2-8. 

These  four  beasts  arise  out  of  the  troubled  sea  of 
human  society.  "  The  first,  like  a  lion,"  symbolizes 
the  Babylonian  Empire,  the  characteristics  of  which 
were  boldness,  consciousness  of  power,  cunning  and 
cruelty.  "  The  wings  of  an  eagle"  represent  its  rapid 
conquests.  In  the  later  years  of  the  empire  these  were 
plucked.  Its  victorious  arms  no  longer  struck  terror. 
By  the  expression  "  a  man's  heart  was  given  unto  it," 
we  are  to  understand  that  the  rigors  of  despotism  were 
somewhat  abated. 

By  the  "  second  beast,  like  to  a  bear,"  is  sjnnbolized 
the  kingdom  of  the  Medes  and  Persians.     In  the  ex- 


38  PAPACY   THE   FOE    OF   THE    CHURCH. 

pression,  "  it  raised  up  itself  on  one  side,"  we  find  a 
prophecy  of  the  superior  enegy  and  efficiency  of  one 
of  the  nations  constituting  this  kingdom.  The  three 
ribs  in  the  mouth  of  it  denote  a  partially  civilized 
people  in  the  act  of  devouring  kingdoms  to  increase 
their  ovra  strength.  The  command,  "Arise,  devour 
much  flesh,"  was  fulfilled  by  Cyrus. 

"  The  third  beast,  like  a  leopard,"  represents  the 
Grseco-Macedonian  empire.  The  rapidity  of  Alex- 
ander's conquests,  by  the  aid  of  his  four  distinguished 
generals,  is  denoted  by  "the  four  wings  of  a  fowl," 
and  the  division  of  the  kingdom  on  his  death,  hi/ 
four  heads. 

Having  premised  this  much — which  seemed  neces- 
sary to  an  understanding  of  the  scope  of  this  famous 
prophecy — we  hasten  to  consider  the  fourth  beast.  As 
this  represents  a  power  still  in  existence,  and  bitterly 
hostile  to  Christianity,  it  is,  to  us,  more  deeply  inter- 
esting than  its  predecessors.  Of  it  the  interpreting 
angel  says : 

"The  fourth  beast  shall  be  the  fourth  kingdom  upon  earth, 
which  shall  be  diverse  from  all  kingdoms,  and  shall  devour  the 
■whole  earth,  and  shall  tread  it  down,  and  break  it  in  pieces.  And 
the  ten  horns  out  of  this  kingdom  are  ten  kings  that  shall  arise: 
and  another  shall  rise  after  them ;  and  he  shall  be  diverse  from 
the  first,  and  he  shall  subdue  three  kings.  And  he  shall  speak 
great  words  against  the  Most  High,  and  shall  wear  out  the  saints 
of  the  !Most  High,  and  think  to  change  times  and  laws  :  and  they 
shall  he  given  into  his  hand,  until  a  time  and  times  and  the  divid- 
ing of  time.     But  the  judgment  shall  sit,  and  they  shall  take  away 


PAPACY  THE   FOE    OF    THE    CHURCH.  39 

his  dominion,  to  consume  and  to  destroy  it  unto  the  end.  And  the 
kingdom  and  dominion,  and  the  greatness  of  the  kingdom  under 
the  whole  heaven,  shall  be  given  to  the  people  of  the  saints  of  the 
Most  High,  whose  kingdom  is  an  everlasting  kingdom,  and  all 
dominions  shall  serve  and  obey  him." — Dan.  vii.  23-27. 

Diverse  from  all  others,  being  the  union  of  monarch- 
ical and  republican  principles,  it  had  the  power  to 
rej)ress  revolt  and  the  facility  of  adapting  itself  to  the 
ever  varying  phases  of  human  society.  Hence,  for 
more  than  six  centuries,  half  the  time  between  its 
founding  and  the  division  into  the  ten  kingdoms,  its 
very  name  was  a  terror.  Of  her  extent  and  power  we 
need  no  proof  "  Half  our  learning  is  her  epitaph." 
She  became  terrible  and  strong  exceedingly.  By  her 
invincible  legions  all  independent  nationalities  were 
trampled  in  pieces.  Being  first  crushed,  they  were 
devoured,  and  became  parts  of  the  all-embracing  em- 
pire. At  length,  as  we  have  seen  (Chapter  I.),  this 
kingdom  was  divided  into  ten,  represented  in  Daniel's 
vision  by  ten  horns ;  in  Nebuchadnezzar's  by  the  toes 
of  the  image.  Thus,  on  the  Roman  state  are  found 
all  the  marks  of  the  beast. 

Among  the  ten  horns  another  little  horn  came  up, 
'^'before  whom  there  were  three  of  the  first  horns 
plucked  up  by  the  roots."  The  belief  that  this  little 
horn  represents  the  Papal  hierarchy  is,  among  Protes- 
tants, almost  universal.  It  was  to  arise  after  the  ten 
kingdoms.  These  arose  in  the  interval  between  356 
and  526  A.  d.     The  Papacy,  after  gradually  acquiring 


40  PAPACY   THE   FOE    OF   THE    CHURCH. 

power  for  three  centuries,  was  perfected  as  an  engine 
of  ecclesiastical  despotism  in  606  A.  d.,  when  Phocas, 
the  murderer  and  usurper,  conferred  upon  Boniface  III. 
the  title  of  Universal  Bisliop.  Then  Romanism,  as  a 
system  of  oppression,  became  complete.  The  little 
horn  had  grown  upon  the  unsightly  monster. 

The  three  horns  plucked  up  by  the  roots  were,  it  is 
commonly  believed,  the  kingdom  of  the  Goths,  of  the 
Ostrogoths,  and  of  the  Lombards. 

Of  this  last  foe  of  the  true  Church,  the  characteristics 
are  given  by  Daniel.  "And  behold,  in  this  horn  were 
eyes  like  the  eyes  of  a  man."  "  By  its  eyes,"  says  Sir 
Isaac  Newton,  "  it  was  a  seer.  A  seer  is  a  bishop ; 
and  this  Church  claims  the  universal  bishopric."  Ec- 
clesiastical power  is  its  most  marked  characteristic. 
In  this  it  is  "  diverse  from  all  the  kingdoms  that  were 
before  it."  The  mode  in  which  this  unlimited  author- 
ity was  acquired,  furnishes  an  instructive  chapter  in 
history.  On  the  conversion  of  Constantine,  a  golden 
opportunity  was  given  of  evangelizing  the  world.  The 
bishops  of  Rome,  however,  caring  more  to  extend  their 
own  authority  than  to  spread  a  knowledge  of  the 
truth,  labored  zealously  to  acquire  rule  over  the  entire 
Church.  Their  stupendous  assumptions,  favored  by 
the  profound  ignorance  of  the  people,  made  the  effort 
comparatively  easy.  Soon  the  Pope's  authority  was 
believed  to  be  equal,  and  by  some,  even  superior  to 
that  of  a  General  Council.  Still,  by  the  more  intel- 
ligent of  the  clergy,  these  claims  were  stoutly  resisted. 


PAPACY    THE   FOE    OF   THE    CHURCH.  41 

Refusing,  however,  with  characteristic  effrontery,  to 
yield  the  assumed  right  to  all  authority,  secular  and 
religious,  they  in  the  end  won  the  victory — the  Roman 
bishop  was  acknowledged  spiritual  and  temporal  sover- 
eign. Henceforth  the  episcopal  court  occupied  the  room 
of  the  imperial. 

Again ;  it  is  said,  "  He  shall  speak  great  words 
against  the  Most  High."  The  arrogant  assumptions  of 
the  Popes  know  no  bounds.  They  claim  to  be  legi- 
timate successors  of  the  Apostle  Peter,  vicegerents  of 
God,  vicars  of  Christ.  In  their  possession,  they  gravely 
tell  us,  are  the  keys  of  heaven  and  of  hell.  Sitting  in 
the  temple  of  God,  the  Pope  may  deal  out  glory  or  dam- 
nation, as  suits  his  fancy.  Even  each  priest,  according 
to  Roman  infallibility,  can  forgive  sins,  and  sell  the 
most  enrapturing  bliss  of  heaven  to  the  highest  bidder 
or  the  wealthiest  knave.  Liguori — one  of  their  canon- 
ized saints,  and  whose  "Moral  Theology,"  a  standard  text- 
book in  their  theological  schools,  is  declared,  by  the 
highest  papal  authority,  to  be  "  sound  and  according  to 
God  " — affirms,  "  the  proper  form  of  absolution  is  indi- 
cative :  I,  the  priest,  absolve  theeJ'  To  the  claim  of  sole 
right  to  interpret  Scripture,  the  Pope  adds  the  still 
more  absurd  claim  of  infallibility.  This,  so  recently 
exalted  into  a  dogma,  every  true  Catholic,  according  to 
the  Freeman  8  Journal  of  August  20th,  1870,  must  cor- 
dially assent  to,  and  believe  with  the  whole  heart.  And 
the  London  Vatican  of  July  29th,  1870,  uses  this  lan- 
guage :  "  It  was  not  enough  that  a  mortal  should  rule 


42  PAPACY   THE   FOE    OF    THE    CHURCH. 

over  God's  kingdom  on  earth,  unless  the  keys  of  heaven 
were  also  committed  to  him.  He  {the  Pope)  was  to  reign 
in  both  worlds  at  once.  It  tvoidd  seem  that  God  in  stoop- 
ing to  become  many  had  almost  made  man  God!'  Again: 
"  He  who  lifts  up  his  hand  against  the  Pope  resembles, 
without  knowing  it,  the  accursed  Jew  who  smote  Jesus 
in  the  face."  And  again :  "  The  Church  has  told  them 
(the  heretics)  who  and  what  his  Vicar  is.  Either  her 
message  is  true,  and  then  all  icho  refuse  obedience  to  the 
diair  of  St.  Peter  are  rebels  against  the  Most  High,  and 
without  hope  of  salvation ;  or  it  is  false,  and  then  the 
Church  of  Christ  has  ceased  to  exist."  "  Not  a  few  are 
found,"  we  are  told  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  the  Consti- 
tution lately  promulgated,  "  who  resist  it,"  and  for  this 
reason,  says  the  Decree,  "  we  deem  it  altogether  neces- 
sary solemnly  to  assert  thcd  prerogative  {infallibility) 
which  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God  deigned  to  annex  to 
iJie  supreme  pastoral  office.^'  Surely  Popery  has  a  mouth 
speaking  great  things. 

Daniel  further  says,  "  I  beheld,  and  the  same  horn 
made  war  with  the  saints,  and  prevailed  against  them." 
And  the  interpreting  angel  says,  ".He  shall  wear  out  the 
saints  of  the  Most  High."  What  language  could  more 
fitly  characterize  the  Papacy  ?  It  has  waged  for  more 
than  twelve  centuries  a  relentless  warfare  against 
the  followers  of  Christ.  We  may  affirm,  and  with- 
out exaggeration,  that  this,  little  horn  of  the  fourth 
beast,  the  Papacy,  has  put  to  death  millions  of  Chris- 
tians.    And   of   thousands  of  others   the   lives   have 


PAPACY  TEE   FOE    OF   THE    CHURCH.  43 

been  rendered  more  intolerable  than  death  itself.  His- 
tory proves  the  appropriateness  of  the  names  given 
to  Popery  in  Revelation,  "  the  scarlet  colored  beast, 
drunk  with  the  blood  of  the  saints,  and  of  the  mar- 
tyrs of  Jesus ; "  "  the  tormentor  of  the  saints  of  the 
Most  High." 

"  He  shall  think  to  change  times  and  seasons."  Who, 
since  the  days  of  Julius  Caesar,  save  the  Popes,  has 
assumed  the  right  of  regulating  the  calendar,  and  enact- 
in  sr  laws  for  the  world  ? 

With  the  interpretation  of  Daniel's  expression,  "a 
time,  and  times,  and  the  dividing  of  time,"  we  have,  in 
this  chapter,  little  to  do.  It  may  be,  and  most  prob- 
ably is,  an  equivalent  of  the  expression  in  Revelation, 
"  a  thousand  two  hundred  and  threescore  days."  Each, 
perhaps,  may  be  properly  understood  as  indicating  the 
continuance  of  Rome's  temporal  supremacy,  1260  years. 
Possibly,  also,  dating  the  rise  of  Antichrist  in  A.  d.  606, 
when  Boniface  III.  was  declared  universal  bishop,  we 
ought  to  have  expected,  between  the  years  1866  and 
1872,  the  overthrow  of  the  Pope's  authority.  And 
some,  no  doubt,  will  imagine  that  in  the  removal  of  the 
French  troops  from  Rome,  in  the  overthrow  of  Napo- 
leon III.,  and  in  the  Pope's  loss  of  temporal  power — fol- 
lowing as  they  did  so  close  on  the  promulgation  of  the 
dogma  of  Papal  infallibility — they  discern  one  of  the 
last  acts  in  the  drama  of  this  mystery  of  arrogance. 

Not  less  foreign  to  our  present  purpose  is  the  expla- 
nation of  the  passage,  "  But  the  judgment  shall  sit,  and 


44  PAPACY   THE   FOE    OF   THE    CHURCH. 

they  shall  take  away  his  dominion  to  consume  and  to 
destroy  it  unto  the  end.''  That  this  powerful  foe  of  the 
true  Church  is  to  continue — not  in  its  temporal  power, 
but  in  its  spiritual — till  the  judgment  of  the  great  day, 
seems  highly  probable.  Paul  affirms,  "Then  shall  that 
Wicked  be  revealed,  whom  the  Lord  shall  consume 
with  the  spirit  of  his  mouth,  and  shall  destroy  with  the 
brightness  of  his  coming  J'  *  In  the  Apocalypse  (xiii.  3), 
where  the  history  of  this  scourge  of  Christianity  is 
fully  given,  we  are  told  "  the  deadly  wound  shall  be 
healed,  and  all  the  world  shall  wonder  after  the  beast." 
It  seems  probable,  and  some  tell  us  certain,  that  the 
system  of  superstition,  known  as  Popery,  shall  "continue 
unto  the  end  ; "  that  through  all  time  it  is  to  be  the  re- 
lentless enemy  of  the  Church. 

However  this  may  be,  certain  it  is  that  the  Papacy 
is  described  in  this  chapter  as  during  its  entire  contin- 
uance the  uncompromising  foe  of  Christ's  kingdom. 
Bearing  unmistakably  the  marks  of  the  little  horn  of 
the  fourth  beast,  having  an  ever-living  connection  with 
the  despotism  from  which  it  sprang,  and  waging  an  in- 
cessant warfare  with  the  saints  of  the  Most  High,  it 
has  ever  shown  itself  the  tireless  enemy  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty,  of  Christianity,  and  of  Republicanism. 
As  such  it  was  predicted.  As  such  it  has  ever  been 
known.  And  yet,  either  with  blindness  that  deserves 
pity,  or  with   arrogance  that  richly  merits  rebuke,  it 

*  2  Thess.  ii.  8. 


PAPACY   THE   FOE    OF   THE    CHURCH.  45 

even  now  proudly  claims  to  be  the  Ohurcli,  the  only 
Church,  Holy  Mother  infallible,  visibly  guided  by  the 
indwelling  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  guardian  of  morals, 
the  guide  of  conscience,  the  most  efficient  agent  of  civili- 
zation, the  friend  of  freedom. 


CHAPTER     III. 

FORMALISil   AX   OLD   ENEMY   OF    CHRISTLAJNTTT. 

(2  Thess.  ii.  7.) 

APISTS — we  shall  seldom  honor  them  with  the 
name  of  Catholics — greatly  pride  themselves  in 
the  antiquity  of  their  organization.  They  boast- 
ingly  ask  Protestants,  "Where  was  your  so-called 
Church  three  centuries  ago?"  "With  a  frequency  and 
an  eagerness  which  painfully  remind  one  of  the  struggles 
of  a  drowning  man,  they  quote,  in  proof  of  Pome's 
greatness  and  especially  of  her  perpetuity,  a  passage 
from  Lord  Macaulay's  "  Review  of  Ranke's  History  of 
the  Popes : " 

"  No  other  institution  (save  the  Catholic  Church)  is 
left  standing  which  carries  the  mind  back  to  the  times 
when  the  smoke  of  sacrifice  rose  from  the  Pantheon, 
and  when  camelopards  and  tigers  bounded  in  the  Flor 
vian  amphitheatre.  The  proudest  royal  houses  are  but 
of  yesterday  compared  \vith  the  line  of  the  supreme 
Pontiffs.  That  line  we  trace  back  in  an  unbroken  series 
from  the  Pope  who  crowned  Napoleon  in  the  nineteenth 
century  to  the  Pope  who  crowned  Pepin  in  the  eighth ; 
and  far  beyond  the  time  of  Pepin  the  august  dynasty 
extends,  till  it  is  lost  in  the  twilight  of  fable 

46 


FORMALISM.  47 

Nor  do  we  see  any  sign  which  indicates  that  the  term 
of  her  long  dominion  is  approaching.  She  saw  the 
commencement  of  all  the  governments  and  all  the  ec- 
clesiastical establishments  that  now  exist  in  the  world ; 
and  we  feel  no  assurance  that  she  is  not  destined  to  see 
the  end  of  them  all.  She  was  great  and  respected  be- 
fore the  Saxon  had  set  foot  on  Britain,  before  the  Frank 
had  passed  the  Rhine,  when  Grecian  eloquence  still 
flourished  in  Antioch,  when  idols  were  still  worshipped 
in  the  temple  of  Mecca.  And  she  may  still  exist  in 
undiminished  vigor  when  some  traveller  from  New 
Zealand  shall,  in  the  midst  of  a  vast  solitude,  take  his 
stand  on  a  broken  arch  of  London  Bridge  to  sketch  the 
ruins  of  St.  Paul's." 

By  the  music  of  this  inflated  eloquence  they  have 
beat  many  an  inglorious  retreat.  Nay,  it  has  even 
done  service  in  leading  an  attack.  The  Rev.  James 
Kent  Stone,  a  recent  pervert  to  Popery,  in  his  '•'  Invi- 
tation Heeded,"  hurls  it  against  the  luckless  head  of 
defeated  Protestantism.  But  how  much  argument  is 
there  in  it  ?  The  devil  is  as  old  as  the  Romish  Church, 
and  a  little  older,  and  probably  has  quite  as  long  a 
lease  on  life ;  is  he  any  better  for  that  ?  If,  however, 
an  answer  is  necessary,  or  rather  possible — bombast  is 
generally  unanswerable — it  may  be  found  in  an  appeal 
from  the  youthful,  ^'  vealy"  reviewer,  to  the  mature,  ac- 
curate, learned  and  elegant  historian ;  from  Macaulay, 
the  youth  giving  promise  of  future  greatness,  to  Ma- 
caulay, the   intellectual   giant.     In   his   "  History  of 


48  FORMALISM. 

England,"  with  a  sword  that  cuts  the  keener  for  its 
polished  beauty,  he  lays  bare  the  treacherous  heart, 
pierces  the  arrogant  assumptions,  unveils  the  concealed 
wickedness,  and  utterly  demolishes  many  of  the  absurd 
claims  of  the  Papacy.  One  quotation  must  suffice. 
This^  chosen  because  of  its  bearing  on  our  general  sub- 
ject, the  hostility  of  Popery  to  modern  civilization,  shall 
be  taken  from  Vol.  I.  chap.  i.  page  37 : 

"  During  the  last  three  centuries,  to  stunt  the  growth 
of  the  human  mind  has  been  her  (the  Church  of  Rome's) 
chief  object.  Throughout  Christendom,  whatever  ad- 
vance has  been  made  in  knowledge,  in  freedom,  in 
wealth,  and  in  the  arts  of  life,  has  been  made  in  spite 
of  her,  and  has  everywhere  been  in  inverse  proportion 
to  her  power.  The  loveliest  and  most  fertile  provinces 
of  Europe  have,  under  her  rule,  been  sunk  in  poverty, 
in  political  servitude,  and  in  intellectual  torpor ;  while 
Protestant  countries,  once  proverbial  for  sterility  and 
barbarism,  have  been  turned,  by  skill  and  industry,  into 
gardens,  and  can  boast  of  a  long  list  of  heroes  and 
statesmen,  philosophers  and  poets.  Whoever,  knowing 
what  Italy  and  Scotland  naturally  are,  and  what,  four 
hundred  years  ago,  they  actually  were,  shall  now  com- 
pare the  country  round  Rome  with  the  country  round 
Edinburgh,  will  be  able  to  form  some  judgment  as  to 
the  tendency  of  Papal  domination.  The  descent  of 
Spain,  once  the  first  among  monarchies,  to  the  lowest 
depths  of  degradation,  the  elevation  of  Holland,  in  spite 
of  many  disadvantages,  to  a  position  such  as  no  com- 


FORMALISM.  49 

monwealth  so  small  has  ever  reached,  teach  the  same 
lesson." 

If  by  Rome's  claim  to  antiquity  is  meant  that  her 
doctrines  antedate  those  of  Protestantism,  few  things 
are  more  untrue.  The  cardinal  beliefs  of  the  Reformed 
Churches  are  as  old  as  the  Gospel,  nay,  as  the  giving 
of  the  law  from  Mount  Sinai,  nay,  as  the  announcement 
of  salvation  made  to  Eve  in  Eden.  These  doctrines, — 
that  the  one  living  and  true  God  is  the  only  legitimate 
object  of  divine  worship ;  that  Christ  is  the  only  Sa- 
viour, a  perfect  sacrifice ;  that  his  kingdom  is  not  of 
this  world,  but  an  invisible,  spiritual  kingdom,  com- 
posed of  the  faithful  and  their  infant  children  ;  that  the 
condition  of  union  with  his  spouse,  the  Church,  is  re- 
generation of  heart  wrought  by  God's  sj)irit;  that  the 
triune  God  alone  can  pardon  sin ;  that  he  and  he  ex- 
clusively is  the  Lord  of  the  conscience, —  are  doctrines 
not  only  as  old  as  the  Reformation,  but  as  old  as  the 
inspired  Word  of  God,  and  as  imperishable  as  the  Church 
itself.  But  the  dogmas  of  Romanism  are  a  mere  novelty 
in  the  religious  world.  Thus  the  primacy  of  Peter,  a 
doctrine  now  considered  vital  to  the  system,  is  of 
comparatively  recent  origin.  Admitting  that  Peter 
was  in  Rome,  we  may  safely  challenge  the  proof  that 
lie  was  universal  bishop.  And  his  successors  ?  They 
were  persons  so  obscure  that  even  Papal  infalhbility 
cannot  agree  ujDon  their  names.  Though  Vicars  of 
Christ,  supreme  pontiffs,  they  are  never  even  alluded 
to  by  the  Apostle  John,  Peter's  survivor  for  at  least 


50  FORMALISM. 

forty  years.  Undutiful  son,  write  so  much  Scripture, 
and  make  no  mention  of  Holy  Father  !  Strange  indeed ! 
Notwithstanding  Pius  IX.,  in  his  Invitation  "  To  all 
Protestants  and  other  Non-Catliolics"  declares,  "No  one 
can  deny  or  doubt  that  Jesus  Christ  himself  ..... 
huilt  his  only  Church  in  this  world  on  Peter  ;  that  is  to 
say,  the  Church,  One,  Holy,  Catholic,  and  Apostolic," 
we  have  the  heretical  hardihood  to  affirm  that  the  pri- 
macy of  Peter  was  entirely  unknown  in  the  early  ages 
of  the  Church.  It  was  devised  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
sixth  century — a  means  to  the  accomplishment  of  an 
end — to  bolster  up  the  assumptions  of  Kome's  proud 
bishops.  So  likewise  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope  (never 
even  claimed  till  A.  D.  590)  was  resisted  by  Councils, 
denounced  by  many  of  the  ablest  of  the  fathers,  and 
condemned  by  an  infallible  Pope  and  canonized  saint, 
Gregory.  (See  next  Chapter.)  The  invocation  of  the 
dead,  now  so  common  with  Romanists,  did  not  even 
begin  to  manifest  itself  till  the  third  century.  The  use 
of  masses,  solemnly  condemned  in  the  Council  of  Con- 
stantinople, A.  D.  700,  and  again  in  the  seventh  Greek 
Council,  754,  was  not  established  till  the  ninth  century. 
The  doctrine  of  purgatory — the  hen  that  lays  the  golden 
egg — was  not  an  essential  part  of  Popery  till  the  Coun- 
cil of  Florence,  A.  d.  1430.  The  doctrine  of  celibacy — 
that  mark  of  the  great  apostasy,  "  forbidding  to  marry," 
(1  Tim.  iv.  3,)  is  only  about  780  years  old.  For  nearly 
eleven  centuries  every  priest  might  have  a  wife,  and 
live  a  life  free  from  scandal.     Now  thev  are  ^^ Fathers'" 


FORMALISM.  5]^ 

witJioitt  wives.  Transubstantiation — Papal  cannibalism 
— did  not  originate  till  about  the  middle  of  the  fifth 
century,  and  was  severely  denounced  by  some  fifteen 
or  twenty  of  Rome's  most  honored  fathers.  Not  till 
A.  D.  1215,  in  the  fourth  Lateran  Council,  was  it  ex- 
alted into  a  dogma.  So  also  the  insufficiency  of  the 
Bible  as  a  rule  of  faith  and  practice  is  an  assertion  fre- 
quently and  pointedly  condemned  by  at  least  a  dozen 
of  the  fathers,  Rome's  invariable  resort.  The  adoration 
of  rehcs — that  wondrous  promoter  of  traffic  in  dry  bones 
— originated  about  the  same  time  as  the  worship  of 
saints  and  martyrs.  The  withholding  of  the  cup  from 
the  laity  was  pronounced  by  Pope  Gelasius  (a.  d.  492) 
to  be  an  "  impious  sacrilege.''  And  to  our  own  times 
was  left  the  honor — if  honor  it  be  to  have  outstripped 
the  superstition  of  the  dark  ages — of  promulgating  the 
dogma  of  the  "  Immaculate  conception  of  the  Virgin," 
"  Mother  of  God,"  "  Mirror  of  Justice,"  "  Refuge  of  Sin- 
ners," and  '•  Gate  of  Heaven."  In  fact,  not  till  the  pre- 
sent year  was  the  system  rendered  complete,  symmetri- 
cal, perfect.  It  needed,  like  Buddhism,  its  elder  sister, 
the  solemn  announcement  of  the  infallibility  of  the  su- 
preme pontiffi  This,  after  six  months'  angry  discussion, 
has  been  ostentatiously  presented  to  the  world  as  the 
infallible  dogma  of  five  hundred  fallible  bishops.  (How 
many  fallibles  may  be  necessary  to  make  an  infallible, 
possibly  Pio  Nono  can  now  tell.)  Thus  we  can  conclu- 
sively show  that  the  distinctive  doctrines  and  rites  of 
Romanism  are  mere  novelties,  less  ancient  than  the 
doctrines  and  practices  of  Protestantism. 


52  FORMALISM. 

If  by  her  claim  to  antiquity,  however,  is  meant  that 
the  unhallowed  love  of  forms  is  as  old  as  the  Gospel, 
we  do  not  deny  it.  Even  in  the  Apostle's  time,  de- 
praved man  was  beginning  to  corrupt  the  pure  religion 
of  Jesus.  ^' The  mystery  of  iniquity,"  said  Paul,  ''doth 
already  work,  only  he  who  now  letteth  (hindereth)  will 
let,  until  he  be  taken  out  of  the  way."  As  under  the 
tuition  of  Satan,  the  deceitful  heart  developed  every 
system  of  false  religion  by  which  the  world  had  been 
deluded,  so  by  cunningly  employing  the  truth  revealed 
by  Christ,  it  was  commencing  to  weave  a  new  system 
of  superstition  as  much  like  to  Paganism,  as  two  gar- 
ments made  from  the  same  material  are  like  to  each 
other.  Originating  in  the  preference  of  the  forms  of 
devotio,n  to  the  spirit — a  tendency  dating  backward 
to  the  Fall — this  m3'stery  of  iniquity,  after  centuries 
of  gradual  development,  culminated  in  Romanism, 
Satan's  last  agency  for  recruiting  the  armies  doing 
battle  with  the  truth.  Though  last,  its  efficiency  is  by 
no  means  least,  since  the  unrenewed  naturally  turn 
from  the  salvation  of  the  Lord  to  that  which,  being  of 
their  own  devising,  is  more  congenial  to  fallen  human 
nature,  easier  of  attainment,  and  more  flattering  to 
vanity. 

In  one  sense,  therefore,  we  are  ready  to  concede  that 
Popery's  claim  to  antiquity  is  well  founded.  Roman- 
ism, as  ritualism,  has  always  existed,  not  only  in  the 
Pagan  world — Paganism  is  unbaptized  Poperj- — but 
also  in  connection  with   the    religion    revealed   from 


FORMALISM.  53 

heaven,  and  probably  will  continue  to  the  end  of  time, 
and  be  destroyed  only  by  the  brightness  of  the  Saviour  s 
coming.  It  originated  in  Eden ;  at  once  becoming  more 
pleasing  to  sensuous  man  than  the  worship  of  God  in 
spirit  and  in  truth.  Cain — preferring  self-chosen  rites 
to  those  enjoined  by  express  divine  command,  and  des- 
titute of  the  spiritual  vision  of  Christ  as  the  sin-atoning 
Lamb — was  a  type  of  Pagan,  Jew,  Papist,  all  ritualists. 
And  what  w^as  the  worship  of  the  wicked  antediluvians 
but  one  of  rites  ?  What  was  Judaism  itself,  durins^ 
almost  the  entire  history  of  the  Jewish  nation,  but  a 
religion  of  ceremonies?  Its  ritual  service,  though  in- 
tended and  well  adapted  to  keep  the  vital  truths  of 
redemption  prominently  before  the  mind,  was  allowed 
by  many,  may  we  not  say  by  most,  to  assume  such  an 
importance  as  to  overshadoiu  the  tree  of  righteousness. 
Hence,  failing  to  apprehend  its  true  spirit,  they  cruci- 
fied him  wdiom  the  types  distinctly  prefigured.  Coming 
as  "  a  preacher  of  righteousness,"  and  not  to  establish 
a  kingdom  in  which  the  forms  of  devotion  should  pre- 
vail without  piety  in  the  heart,  he  was  put  to  death, 
and  that  by  those  whose  mission  it  was  to  announce 
him  as  the  world's  spiritual  deliverer. 

So  likewise  Phariseeism,  loaded  with  traditions  and 
meaningless  moral  distinctions,  was  only  Poper^^  under 
another  name.  Hostile,  then,  as  ever  to  the  true 
Church,  it  was  severely  denounced  by  Christ.  In  his 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  he  laid  the  axe  at  the  root  of 
the  evil,  declaring  that  the  righteousness  which  God 


54  FORMALISM. 

accepts  is  not  mere  compliance  with  certain  outward 
requirements  of  the  law  and  the  observance  of  tradi- 
tional precepts,  but  piety  in  the  heart.  All,  therefore, 
whether  Pharisees  or  Romanists,  who  so  love  the  forms 
of  worship  and  exalt  the  "traditions  of  the  fathers" 
as  to  make  "  the  word  of  God  of  none  effect,"  are  con- 
demned in  terms  too  explicit  to  be  misunderstood. 

Even  in  the  Church  of  Christ,  where  the  very  first 
requirement  is  spirituality,  this  tendency  to  ritualism 
manifested  itself  As  Christianity  was  the  outgrowth 
of  Judaism,  some  were  strongly  disposed  to  place  re- 
liance in  forms.  "  Certain  men  who  came  down  from 
Judea  taught  the  people,  except  ye  be  circumcised  after 
the  manner  of  Moses,  ye  cannot  be  saved."  Evidently 
some  were  trusting  to  the  observance  of  a  profitless  rite. 
The  mystery  was  working.  The  germ  of  Popery  was 
developing.  For  the  purpose  of  crushing  this,  a  coun- 
cil, summoned  from  the  entire  Church,  consisting  of 
apostles  and  elders  (Peter,  it  would  seem,  was  not  Pope), 
assembled  in  Jerusalem.  After  much  discussion,  in 
which  Paul  and  Barnabas  and  James,  as  well  as  Peter, 
engaged,  "the  apostles  and  elders  and  brethren"  (evi- 
dently there  was  as  yet  no  spiritual  sovereign)  sent 
letters  "  unto  the  brethren  of  the  Gentiles,"  afiirming. 
"  It  seemed  good  to  the  Holy  Ghost  and  to  us  to  lay 
upon  you  no  greater  burden  than  necessary  things^ 
"  Believing  that  through  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  we  shall  be  saved,"  they  condemned  dependence 
on  circumcision,  on  any  and  every  outward  form,  re- 


FORMALISM.  55 

commending  Christians  to  the  merit  of  Christ  for  re- 
demption. Only  necessary  things,  the  essentials  of 
religion,  were  enjoined.  Thus  the  primitive  Church, 
in  council  assembled,  not  only  furnished  evidence  of 
the  early  working  of  this  "mystery  of  iniquity,"  and  a 
refutation  of  the  claim  of  supremacy  for  Peter,  but  in 
reality  most  solemnly  and  emphatically  condemned 
the  spirit  of  Popery,  the  ever  existing  and  always  per- 
nicious tendency  to  rely  upon  the  outward  rites  of 
religion. 

Few  unbiassed  readers  will  hesitate  in  conceding  that 
Paul's  Epistles,  and  especially  the  one  to  the  Galatiaiis, 
were  written  with  the  design  of  denouncing  the  ten- 
dency to  ritualism.  He  endeavors  to  refute  the  errors 
which  were  beginning  to  pervert  the  Gospel.  He  di- 
rects believers  to  Christ,  and  to  Christ  alone.  He 
condemns  dependence  on  forms — on  anything  save  the 
blood  of  Jesus.  In  holy  earnestness  he  exclaims, 
"  Though  we,  or  an  angel  from  heaven,  preach  any 
other  Gospel  unto  you  than  that  we  have  preached,  let 
him  be  accursed."  Full  well  did  the  Apostle  discern 
the  tendency  of  the  human  heart  to  become  enamored 
with  forms,  and  in  the  observance  of  these,  vainly, 
and  perhaps  unconsciously,  fancy  it  is  working  out  its 
own  salvation,  content  without  the  sense  of  forgiveness 
from  Christ,  or  the  spirit  of  godliness  in  the  soul. 
Therefore,  of  this  "mystery  of  iniquity"  he  affirms,  "it 
doth  already  work." 

But  although  thus  sternly  rejDroved,  in  the  lapse  of 


56  FORMALISM. 

time,  from  depraved  human  nature,  it  again  sprang  up, 
and  having  estabhshed  itself,  has  tyrannized  over  the 
souls  of  men  for  nearly  thirteen  centuries.  Hence,  in 
one  sense,  we  are  ready  to  admit  the  claims  of  the 
Papists  that  theirs  is  the  ancient  Church.  The  prin- 
ciples upon  which  they  found  their  system  are  as  old 
as  the  Fall,  and  as  enduring  as  the  human  race ;  but 
so  far  from  receiving  any  countenance  from  Christ  and 
his  apostles,  they  were  severely  denounced  by  them ; 
but  arising  out  of  corrupt  human  nature,  however  fre- 
quently refuted,  and  however  severely  condemned, 
they  are  sure  to  reappear,  and  almost  certain  to  find 
stanch  advocates.  When  these  principles,  perceptible 
only  in  germ  in  the  Apostles'  time,  had  gained  the 
ascendency.  Antichrist  had  arisen ;  the  power  and  the 
spirit  of  godliness  were  supplanted  by  dead  forms, 
"</ie  man  of  sin"  ^Hlie  son  of  ]perdition"  '•'■  tlie  mystery 
of  iniquity"  " that  Wicked"  was  revealed. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  for  us  to  remind  the  reflect- 
ing reader  that  Romanism,  as  ritualism,  as  cold  and 
heartless  formalism,  not  only  has  ever  shown  itself  the 
enemy  of  a  pure,  spiritual,  unfettered  Gospel,  but  the 
endeared  associate  of  despotism.  If  not  the  foe,  it 
certainly  has  not  been  the  friend  of  free  institutions. 
Its  pomp  and  glitter,  its  extravagance  and  meaningless 
pageantry,  ill  comport  with  the  simplicity,  economy, 
and  rugged  intelligence  of  Republicanism.  Ritualism, 
Popery,  despotism ;  intelligence.  Protestantism,  civil 
liberty,  are  inseparable  friends. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

ROMANISM   AN   APOSTASY. 
(2  Thess.  ii.  3-12.) 


^fN  the  prophecy  of  Paul,  the  organized  opposition 


1 

4 1  to  the  Church  is  denominated  "the  man  of  sin," 
"  the  son  of  perdition,"  "  the  mystery  of  iniquity," 
"  that  Wicked."  That  the  passage  is  a  prediction 
of  the  rise,  progress  and  overthrow  of  Popery,  an  ex- 
amination, we  think,  makes  clearly  manifest.  The 
Apostle  affirms  that  even  in  that  early  age  the  mys- 
tery was  beginning  to  work.  This  we  have  already 
found  to  be  true  of  the  Romish  Church.  His  remain- 
ing statements  await,  and  in  the  progress  of  our  work, 
we  trust,  shall  receive,  an  examination,  proving  them 
not  only  strikingly  applicable  to  the  Papacy,  but  appli- 
cable to  no  other  system  of  error,  religious  or  political ; 
to  no  other  form  of  wickedness,  personal,  social  or 
national.  It  should  exalt  itself  above  all  that  is  called 
God,  or  that  is  worshipped,  sitting  in  the  temple  of 
God,  claiming  to  be  God.  This  we  shall  hereafter  find 
fulfilled  in  the  arrogant  assumptions  of  the  proud 
pontiffs.  Its  coming  should  be  "with  all  power  and 
signs  and  lying  wonders."  Its  relics,  its  legends,  its 
prodigies  and  its   so-called  miracles,  "  lying  wonders," 


57 


58  ROMANISM  AN  APOSTASY. 

will  on  examination  be  seen  to  be  its  most  efficient 
agency  in  spreading  and  maintaining  its  soul-debasing 
superstitions.  That  God  would  send  its  followers 
strong  delusion  that  they  should  believe  a  lie,  Paul 
predicted.  Most  assuredly  observation  confirms  the 
testimony  of  history,  that  in  the  Romish  Church  the 
willingness  and  power  of  the  priests  to  deceive  are 
only  equalled  by  the  capability  and  eagerness  of  the 
peoj)le  to  be  deceived ;  deceit  producing  deceivableness, 
deceivableness  evoking  deceit,  blinded  of  God,  given 
over  to  believe  falsehoods.  Of  this,  however,  here- 
after. So  likewise,  the  prediction  that  "the  man  of 
sin"  should  continue — not  perhaps  in  organized  form 
as  now,  but  in  essential  characteristics — during  the 
entire  history  of  the  Church  on  earth,  and  only  be 
destroyed  by  the  brightness  of  the  Saviour's  coming,  is 
precisely  the  same,  as  hereafter  will  appear,  with 
tliat  so  emphatically  made  respecting  Romanism.  In 
each,  in  all  of  the  particulars  here  enumerated,  the 
prophecy  is  exclusively  applicable  to  the  Church 
of  Rome.  This  will  appear  in  the  course  of  our 
work. 

The  first  statement  made  respecting  the  "  mystery  of 
iniquity"  is,  that  it  should  arise  from  apostasy.  It 
was  to  be  a  falling  away  from  the  faith.  We  must 
therefore  look  for  Antichrist  among  those  who  once 
embraced  Christianity.  In  countries  Christianized,  or 
at  least  partially  so,  and  not  in  those  exclusively 
Pagan,  must  we  expect  "  the  man  of  sin"     And  unless 


ROMANISM  AN  APOSTASY.-  59 

ill  the  Papacy,  where,  in  the  entire  history  of  the 
Church,  does  the  prophecy  find    a   falfihiient? 

If  this  be  not  the  apostasy,  where  is  it?  Does 
Protestantism  bear  the  marks  ?  Certahily  one  or  the 
other  is  the  predicted  foe  of  Christ's  kingdom.  And 
if  it  be  Protestantism,  then  Romanism,  with  ail  its 
abominations,  must  be  all  it  claims  to  be,  the  Church, 
the  only  Church,  the  Holy,  Catholic,  Apostolic  Church. 

The  inquiry,  therefore,  which  is  the  predicted  "  son 
of  perdition  ? "  we  are  entirely  willing  should  await 
the  answer  given  this  question,  which,  form  of  doctrine 
and  worshi]3  has  the  sanction  of  the  Apostles  and 
primitive  Christians  ?  confident  that  whilst  before  the 
beginning  of  the  fourth  century  there  was,  as  there 
always  has  been,  and  so  long  as  human  nature  remains 
unchanged  probably  always  will  be,  a  strong  tendency 
to  ritualism.  Popery — in  the  form  in  which  it  now 
exists  and  has  cursed  the  world  for  nearly  thirteen 
centuries — had  no  existence. 

During  the  lives  of  the  Apostles,  and  in  times  im- 
mediately subsequent,  the  Church  was  comparatively 
j)ure.  Believers  worshipped  God,  and  God  alone,  and 
relied  for  salvation  entirely  on  the  merit  of  Christ's 
death.  The  religion  of  the  humble  Nazarene  had  none 
of  those  unmeaning  rites,  imposing  ceremonials,  and 
debasing  customs  of  Romanism.  These  all  came  in 
during  the  gradual  apostasy,  and  came  from  Paganism. 
Prior  to  this  the  followers  of  Jesus  were  bitterly  perse- 
cuted, thousands  being  put  to  death  by  every  manner 


60  f  ■  EOMAXISM  AX  APOSTASY. 

of  torture  which  fiendish  mahgnity  could  invent.  They 
were  sawn  asunder ;  they  were  drowned ;  they  were 
thrown  to  wild  beasts ;  the}^  were  burned  at  the  stake. 
Others,  covered  with  the  skins  of  animals,  were  torn  by 
dogs;  others  were  crucified;  others  still,  besmeared 
with  combustible  materials,  and  suspended  by  the  chin 
upon  sharp  stakes,  were  set  on  fire,  that  they  might 
light  the  gardens  of  Rome's  cruel  emperor.  And  to 
add  interest  to  the  horrid  spectacle,  and  attract  the 
crowd,  this  heartless  exhibition  of  Satanic  malignity 
was  accompanied  with  horse-racing. 

To  escape  death,  the  faithful  concealed  themselves  in 
dens,  in  caves,  in  deserts,  and  in  subterranean  burial 
places  near  the  eternal  city.  During  ten  successive 
persecutions,  Christianity  retained  its  Apostolic  purity. 
It  was  persecuted,  and  partly,  no  doubt,  for  this  reason 
was  the  more  spiritual.  There  was  no  vast  external 
organization  having  the  Pope  at  its  head,  and  assuming 
spiritual  power  over  the  entire  Church.  The  worship 
of  images,  counting  of  beads,  bowing  before  altars,  ador- 
ing the  host  and  worshipping  the  Virgin,  were  unknown. 
Being  poor,  the  Christians  had  few  church  edifices; 
they  met  for  worship  in  caves  and  private  houses. 
Magnificent  cathedrals,  gorgeous  vestments,  and  costly 
ornaments,  which  Papists  now  seem  to  deem  essential  to 
proper  worship,  were  at  once  impossible  and  unneces- 
sary to  the  simple-mmded  followers  of  him  who  had  not 
where  to  lay  his  head.  Theirs  was  not  the  form  of 
godliness,  but  its  jDower  in  the  heart.     Their  writings 


R OMA NISM  AN  APOSTASY.  Q\ 

are  of  the  most  spiritual  type.  In  these  is  found  incon- 
trovertible proof  that  the  religion  then  preached  was 
such  as  we  now  denominate  Protestantism.  The  Em- 
peror, so  far  from  ruling  in  ecclesiastical  matters,  was 
the  bitter  enemy  of  Christianity. 

During  this  period  each  minister  of  the  Church  ruled 
in  his  own  congregation,  and  nowhere  else.  The 
bishop  of  the  church  in  Rome  was  only  the  equal,  in 
authority,  of  the  humblest  shepherd  of  souls  in  the 
most  unknown,  distant  and  ignorant  part  of  the  empire. 
Clemens  tells  us,  ^^  Those  wlio  were  ordained  rulers  in 
the  churches,  were  so  ordained  with  the  approbation  and 
concurrence  of  the  ichole  Church"  Clearly,  therefore, 
Romanism'^  did  not  prevail.  Her  system  is  a  despotism, 
in  which  the  people  have  no  voice  in  the  choice  of  their 
spiritual  guides. 

And  the  assumptions  of  Popery,  like  her  mummeries, 
had  no  existence  during  the  first  three  centuries. 
These  the  persecutions  of  Pagan  Rome  effectually  re- 
pressed. Therefore,  before  "  the  man  of  sin"  could  be 
revealed,  this  let  or  hindrance  must  be  removed.  "And 
now,"  says  Paul,  "  ye  know  what  wdthholdeth  that  he 
might  be  revealed  in  his  time.  For  the  mystery  of 
iniquity  doth  already  work :  only  he  who  now  letteth, 
will  let,  until  he  be  taken  out  of  the  way.  And  then 
shall  that  Wicked  be  revealed." 

In  the  year,  A.  d.  306,  Constantine  succeeded  to  the 
throne  of  his  father.  This  marks  an  important  era  in 
the  history  of  the  Church.     Having  seen,  as  he  claimed, 


62  T.OMANTSM   AN  APOSTASY. 

the  appearance  of  a  cross  in  the  heavens,  exceeding 
bright,  bearing  the  inscription,  "  Conquer  by  this,"  he 
embraced  Christianitj',  defeated  Maxentius,  and  in  313, 
by  fonnal  edict,  confirmed  and  extended  the  privileges 
of  the  Christians.  Christianity  was  now  estabhshed. 
The  Emperor  commenced  the  persecution  of  Paganism. 
A  profession  of  the  Gospel  being  no  longer  accompanied 
with  danger,  the  churches  being  richly  endowed,  the 
clergy  loaded  with  honors,  it  was  but  natural  that  upon 
the  pure  spiritual  worship  of  him  who  came  to  abolish 
all  forms,  should  be  engrafted  the  superstitions  of  the 
ignorant  heathen.  Of  a  conversion  of  the  heart,  there 
was  not  even  the  pretence.'  With  the  growth  of  ignor- 
ance and  love  of  ostentation  came,  not  only  further 
importations  of  unmeaning  ceremonies,  but  also  greater 
assumptions  on  the  part  of  Rome's  bishop,  until,  in 
A.  D.  606,  the  Emperor  Phocas  conferred  upon  Boniface 
III.  the  title  of  JJnivei^sal  Bisliop.  Thus  Romanism, 
after  a  desperate  struggle  of  three  centuries,  established 
itself.  Henceforth  none  might,  with  impunity,  despise 
its  rites  or  ridicule  its  claims. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  the  Roman 
pontiffs  acquired  supremacy  without  long  continued 
efforts,  and  persistent  opposition  from  those  who  looked 
upon  the  growth  of  this  power  as  the  rise  of  Antichrist. 
Protests  and  refutations  were  numerous.  Irenaeus  declar- 
ed that  the  bishop  of  Rome  was  but  a  presbyter,  for  Jesus 
himself  was  the  only  bishop  of  souls.  Maurus  affirmed 
that  all  ministers  were  bishops,  and  all  bishops  were  of 


RO^rANISM    AN  APOSTASY.  63 

equal  rank.  When  summoned  to  Rome  to  stand  trial 
for  such  blasphemous  heresy,  he  paid  no  regard  to  the 
summons.  When  excommunicated  he  hurled  back  upon 
the  Pope  the  sentence  pronounced  against  himself,  and 
continued,  in  defiance  of  the  Pope's  authority,  to  dis- 
charge duty  as  pastor  of  his  flock.  On  his  death-bed  he 
exhorted  his  people  to  continuance  in  disowning  the 
usurped  power  of  the  great  Roman  Antichrist.  The 
early  Councils  resisted  Papal  supremacy.  The  sixth  of 
Carthage  (a.  d.  418)  resisted  three  Popes;  that  of 
Chalcedon  (a.  d.  450),  Pope  Leo.  St.  Ibar,  the  Irish 
divine,  wrote,  "  We  never  acknowledge  the  SKj^remacT/  of 
a  foreigner.''  Says  Theodoret,  '^Christ  alone  is  head  of 
all."  In  the  early  part  of  the  sixth  century  a  fierce 
contention  arose  "  between  Sjrmmachus  and  Laurentius, 
who  were  on  the  same  day  elected  to  the  pontificate  by 
different  parties."  A  Council  assembled  at  Rome  by 
Theodoric,  king  of  the  Goths,  endorsed  the  election  of 
the  former.  Ennodius,  in  an  apology  written  for  the 
Council  and  for  Symmachus,  first  made  the  assertion, 
"  The  bishop  of  Rome  is  subject  to  no  earthly  tribunal." 
He  styles  him,  "judge  in  place  of  God,  and  vicegerent 
of  the  Most  High."  These  claims  were  maintained  by 
the  adherents  of  Symmachus,  and  detested  and  refuted 
by  his  opponents.  Even  Gregory,  Pope,  author  and 
canonized  saint — an  authority  surely  with  Papists — in 
his  contest  with  the  bishop  of  Constantinople,  denounced 
the  title  of  Universal  hishojp,  as  ^vain,""  "diabolical " 
^^ anti-cJiristian^'  "hlasphemcm:^,''  " execrable,  '''^infernal.'' 


64  ROMANISM  AN  APOSTASY. 

He  declares,  "  Our  Lord  sai/s  unto  his  disciples,  he  not 
ye  called  Rahhi,  for  one  is  your  master,  and  all  ye  are 
hrethren!'     And  again  he  affirms,  "  Whosoever  adopts 

OR  AFFECTS  THE  TITLE  OF  UNIVERSAL  BISHOP,  HAS  THE  PRIDE 
OF  ANTICHRIST,  AND  IS  IN  SOME  MANNER  HIS  FORERUNNER 
IN  HIS  HAUGHTY  QUALITY  OF  ELEVATING  HIMSELF  ABOVE  THE 
RE3T  OF  HIS  ORDER.  AnD  INDEED,  BOTH  THE  ONE  AND 
THE  OTHER  SEEM  TO  SPLIT  UPON  THE  SAME  ROCK ;  FOR  AS 
PRIDE  MAKES  ANTICHRIST  STRAIN  HIS  PRETENSIONS  UP  TO 
GODHEAD,  SO  WHOEVER  IS  AMBITIOUS  TO  BE  CALLED  THE 
ONLY  AND  UNIVERSAL  BISHOP,  ARROGATES  TO  HIMSELF  A 
DISTINGUISHED  SUPERIORITY,  AND  RISES,  AS  IT  WERE,  UPON 

THE  RUINS  OF  THE  REST."  As  the  doctrine  of  Papal 
supremacy  is  so  strongly  condemned  by  an  infallible 
Po]3e,  surely  we  ought  to  be  excused  for  disbelieving  it. 
As  the  Papacy  is  declared,  by  what  Romanists  deem 
the  highest  human  authority,  to  be  either  Antichrist  or 
his  harbinger,  further  proof  that  she  is  the  great  apos- 
tasy is  certainly  uncalled  for.  Infallibility  has  spoken, 
and  for  once,  we  can  believe,  has  certainly  spoken  the 
truth. 

Two  years  after  the  death  of  Gregory,  Boniface  III. 
requested  and  obtained  from  the  Emperor  Phocas — the 
usurper  and  murderer — the  title  of  Universal  Bishop. 
This  is  the  date  commonly  assigned  as  the  origin  of 
Popery.  At  this  time  the  foundation  stone  of  the 
entire  structure  was  laid.  Grant  that  the  bishop  of 
Eome  is  the  legitimate  successor  of  St.  Peter,  the  pri- 
mate of  the  Church,  "  the  infallible  judge  in  faith  and 


ROMANISM  AN  APOSTASY.  65 

morals,''  sole  interpreter  of  Scripture,  and  the  entire 
system  is  logically  defensible.  Even,  however,  so  late 
as  the  ninth  century,  Lewis,  son  of  Charlemagne, 
owned  no  supremacy  in  the  Pope,  but  sustained  the 
power  of  the  bishops  and  Council  against  him.  To 
bring  men  to  consent  to  their  arrogant  assumptions, 
the  pontiffs  now  devised  a  new  scheme.  They  pro- 
cured, m  the  year  845,  by  the  aid  of  their  trusty 
friends,  pretended  decrees  of  early  Popes,  spurious 
\vritings  of  the  fathers,  and  forged  acts  of  synods  and 
Councils,  known  since  as  the  " Isidorian  Decretals'' 
The  most  important  of  these  documents  was  the  pre- 
tended gift  from  Constantine  the  Great,  in  the  year 
324,  of  the  city  of  Rome,  and  all  Italy,  with  the  crown, 
to  Sylvester,  then  bishop  of  Rome.  "  We  attribute," 
says  the  imposture,  ''  to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter  all  the 
IMPERIAL  DIGNITY,  GLORY  AND  POWER.  Moreover,  we 
give  to  Sylvester,  and  to  his  successors,  our  palace  of 
Lateran — iiicontestably  one  of  the  finest  palaces  on 
earth ;  we  give  him  our  crown,  our  mitre,  our  diadem, 

AND  ALL  OUR  PRINCIPAL  VESTMENTS  ]  WE  RESIGN  TO  HIM 
THE      IMPERIAL      DIGNITY.       .  ...       We     GIVE     AS 

A  FREE  GIFT  TO  THE  HoLY  PONTIFF  THE  CITY  OF  ROME, 
AND  ALL  THE  WESTERN  CITIES  OF  ItALY,  AS  WELL  AS  THE 
WESTERN  CITIES  OF  THE  OTHER  COUNTRIES.  To  MAKE 
ROOM     FOR     HIM,    WE     ABDICATE     OUR     SOVEREIGNTY     OVER 

ALL  THESE  PROVINCES  J  and  wc  withdraw  from  Rome, 
transferring  the  seat  of  our  empire  to  Byzantium,  since 

IT     IS     NOT     JUST     THAT    A    TERRESTRIAL     EMPEROR     SHALL 
5 


QQ  ROMANISM  AN  APOSTASY. 

RETAm    ANY    POWER    WHERE    GOD    PLACED    THE    HEAD    OF 
RELIGION."  * 

By  the  aid  of  these  base  forgeries,  approved  by  the 
Roman  Pontiffs  because  designed  to  enrich  the  primacy 
of  St.  Peter,  Nicolas  I.  succeeded,  notwithstanding 
the  determined  opposition  of  the  reflecting,  in  instilling 
into  the  minds  of  many  the  belief  that  the  bishop  of 
Rome  was  legislator  and  judge  over  the  whole  Church  ; 
that  other  bishops,  and  even  Councils,  derived  authority 
solely  from  him.  Nor  were  the  results  which  flowed 
from  this  huge  fabrication  confined  to  the  ninth  cen- 
tury. Gradually,  but  surely,  the  whole  constitution 
and  government  of  the  Church  were  changed.  Accord- 
ing to  Mosheim,  "  The  wisest  and  most  impartial 
among  the  Roman  Catholic  writers,  acknowledge  and 
prove,  that  from  the  times  of  Lewis  the  Meek,  the 
ancient  system  of  ecclesiastical  law  in  Europe  was  gene- 
rally changed,  and  a  new  system  introduced  by  the 
policy  of  the  court  of  Rome."-|-  The  authors  of  the 
recent  work  entitled,  "Janus,"  ^^ members  of  a  school 
who  yield  to  none  in  their  loyal  devotion  to  Catholic 
truth,''  afiirm  :  "  The  Isidorian  Decretals  revolutionized 
the  whole  constitution  of  the  Church,  introducing  a  new 
system  in  the  place  of  the  old!'     "  TJpon  these,"  say  they, 

*  Of  Constantine's  pretended  donation  and  the  Decretals  in  general, 
Dr.  Campbell  remarks,  "  They  are  such  bare-faced  impostures,  and 
so  buuglingly  executed,  that  nothing  less  than  the  most  profound 
darkness  of  those  ages  could  account  for  their  success." 

t  Mosheim,  vol.  ii.  p.  63. 


ROMANISM  AN  APOSTASY.  67 

"was  founded  the  maxim  that  the  Pope,  as  supreme 
judge  of  the  Church,  could  he  judged  hy  no  man.''  It 
was  on  the  strength  of  these  fictions  that  Nicolas  I. 
affirmed :  "  The  Roman  Church  keeps  the  faith  pur^, 
and  is  free  from  stain."  These  authors,  certainly  com- 
petent authority,  at  least  with  Catholics,  affirm :  "  Bel- 
larmine  acknowledged  that  without  the  forgeries  of  the 
pseudo-Isidore,  .  .  .  it  looidd  he  impossihle  to  make 
out  even  a  semhlance  of  traditional  evidence,''  for  the 
supremacy.     (P.  319.) 

As  proving  that  Popery,  as  it  now  exists,  is  an 
apostasy  from  the  true  Church,  we  present  some  pas- 
sages from  "  Janus,"  that  complete  historical  refutation 
of  the  Papal  claim  to  supremacy  and  infallibility,  which 
has  recently  caused  the  Catholic  World  and  other  pub- 
lications of  the  "  infallibles "  such  immense  trouble, 
and — to  say  nothing  of  misrepresentation — such  a  vast 
amount  of  special  pleading.     They  say : 

"  The  Papacy,  such  as  it  has  become,  presents  the  appearance 
of  a  disfiguring,  sickly,  and  choking  excrescence  on  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Church,  hindering  and  decomposing  the  action  of  its 
vital  powers,  and  bringing  manifest  diseases  in  its  train," 

"The  Avell  known  fact  speaks  clearly,  enough  for  itself,  that 
throughout  the  whole  ancient  canon  la^  .  .  .  there  is  no  men- 
tion made  of  Papal  rights." 

"  When  the  presidency  in  the  Church  became  an  empire  .  .  . 
then  the  unity  of  the  Church,  so  firmly  secured  before,  was  broken 
up."     (P.  21.) 

"  For  a  long  time  nothing  was  known  in  Rome  of  definite  rights 
bequeathed  by  Peter  to  his  successors." 


68  ROMANISM  AN  APOSTASY. 

"  The  Church  of  Rome  could  neither  exclude  individuals  nor 
Churches  from  the  Church  Universal."     (Pp.  64-66.) 

"  There  are  many  national  Churches  which  were  never  under 
Kome,  and  never  even  had  any  intercourse  with  Rome."     (P.  68.) 

"  The  Popes  took  no  part  in  convoking  Councils."     (P.  63.) 

"  The  force  and  authority  of  the  decisions  of  Councils  depended 
upon  the  consent  of  the  Church,  and  on  the  fact  of  being  generally 
received."     (Pp.  63,  64.) 

Thus,  the  sons  of  "  Holy  Mother  "  themselves  being 
witnesses,  we  confidently  affirm  that  Romanism,  in  its 
form  of  worship,  in  its  system  of  doctrines,  and  in  its 
plan  of  government,  is  evidently  different  from  the 
primitive  Church.  It  must,  therefore,  be  "  the  mystery 
of  iniquity"  the  great  apostasy,  "  that  man  of  si7i" 
"  the  son  of  perdition,  who  opposeth  and  exalteth  himself 
above  all  that  is  called  God,  or  that  is  ivorshipped ;  so 
that  he,  as  God,  sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God,  showing 
himself  that  he  is  God." 

The  insolent  ravings  of  this  foe  of  the  true  Church, 
especially  those  of  the  last  few  months,  may  well  strike 
us  with  amazement.  Pof)e  Boniface  VIII.  issued  a 
decree,  now  embodied  in  the  canon  law,  which  sol- 
emnly proclaims : — "  We  declare,  say,  define,  pro- 
nounce it  to  be  of  necessity  to  salvation,  for  every 
human  creature  to  be  subject  to  the  Roman  Pontiff." 
In  the  fourth  canon  of  the  "  Dogmatic  Decrees  on  Cath- 
olic Faith,"  promulgated  in  the  third  public  session  of 
the  Vatican  Council,  April  24tli,  1870,  occur  these 
words:  "We  admonish  all  that  it  is  their  duty  to  ob- 
serve  likewise  the  constitutions  and   decrees  of  this 


ROMANISM  AN  APOSTASY.  69 

Holy  See."  In  the  third  chapter  of  the  "  First  Dog- 
matic Decree  on  the  Church  of  Christ,"  passed  July 
18th,  1870,  it  is  affirmed  : — "  The  decision  of  the  Apos- 
tolic See,  above  which  there  is  no  higher  authority, 
cannot  be  reconsidered  by  any  one,  nor  is  it  lawful  to 

any  one  to  sit  in  judgment  on  his  judgment We 

renew  the  definition  of  the  (Ecumenical  Council  of 
Florence,  according  to  which  all  the  faithful  of  Christ 
must  believe  that  the  holy  apostolic  see  and  the  Roman 
Pontiff  hold  the  primacy  over  the  whole  world,  and 
that  the  Roman  Pontiff  is  the  successor  of  blessed 
Peter,  the  prince  of  the  Apostles,  and  the  true  Yicar 
of  Christ,  and  is  the  head  of  the  whole  Church,  and 
the  father  and  teacher  of  all  Christians."  And  in  the 
fourth  chapter  of  the  same,  we  find  this  remarkable 
assertion,  made  in  this  nineteenth  century,  made  after 
Rome  has  been  again  and  again  proved  guilty  of  enter- 
taining not  only  doctrines  evidently  erroneous,  but 
dogmas  precisely  contradictory — exact  opposites  : — 
"  Knowing  most  certainly  that  this  see  of  St.  Peter 
EVER  remains  FREE  FROM  ERROR."  Assertion  seems  their 
only  stock  in  trade.  With  this  as  their  formula,  "  Ubi 
Petrus,  ibi  ecclesia,"  and  this  as  their  sole  argument, 
"  Thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my 
Church,"  they  pronounce  anathemas  against  all  who 
deny,  or  even  refuse  cordially  to  accept,  the  doctrines 
of  the  supremacy  and  infallibility  of  the  Pope.  In  this 
decree,  the  first  on  the  Church,  the  unterrified  five 
hundred  thrice  pronounce  "  anathema  sit "  against  him 


70  ROMANISM  AN  APOSTASY. 

who  shall  presume  to  call  in  question  the  primacy  of 
St.  Peter  or  the  legitimate  succession  of  Pius  IX., 
Holi/  Father,  Vicar  of  Christ,  Vicegerent  of  God,  infalli- 
hle  judge  in  faith  and  morals. 

The  Romish  Church,  which  now  boastingly  claims 
inerrancy,  nay  even  infallibility,  has  taught  errors  in- 
numerable, has  radically  changed  her  ancient  character 
and  constitution,  has  become  thoroughly  corruj)t  in  her 
centre  of  unity,  has  changed  the  forms  of  worship,  has 
perverted  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel ;  in  a  word,  has, 
as  Paul  predicted,  fallen  away. 


CHAPTER     V. 

POPERY,    PAGANISM. 

KTi^LTHOUGH  the  claim  of  the  Pope  to  universal 
"^nLS    supremacy  was  not  established  until  A.  d.  606 

S^  (and  is  even  now  vigorously  disputed  by  many 
loyal  sons  of  Holy  Mother),  the  candid  historian 
is  nevertheless  ready  to  admit  that  the  superstition  de- 
nominated by  Paul  "  an  apostasy,"  was,  in  all  its  chief 
features,  distinctly  visible  prior  to  the  arrogant  assump- 
tions of  Boniface  III.  He,  in  the  ofrice  of  supreme 
Pontiff,  did  little  more  than  sanction  existing  rites  and 
enforce  uniformity.  The  errors  in  doctrine  and  practice 
which  have  since  attained  such  importance,  and  pro- 
duced results  so  momentous,  were  most  of  them  en- 
grafted upon  Christianity  during  the  three  preceding 
centuries.  Whence  they  came  is  easily  determined. 
Paganism  was  their  fruitful  source. 

The  motive  which  prompted  to  the  introduction  of 
these  forms,  adapting,  as  was  supposed,  the  new  reli- 
gion to  the  deep-seated  prejudices  of  the  heathen,  may 
have  been,  nay,  we  may  say,  certainly  was,  j)raise- 
worthy.  With  the  fervent  desire  of  becoming  all 
things  to  all  men,  that  they  might  by  all  means  save 

some,  the  early  Christians,  with   the  aid  of  imposing 

71 


72  POPERY,  PAGANISM. 

ceremonies  and  mao-nificent  rites  borrowed  from  Pas'an- 
ism,  thought  to  win  for  Christ  those  who  despised  the 
simplicity  of  Christian  w^orship.  * 

This  policj^,  Laudable  in  motive,  was,  however,  ex- 
ceedingl}'  disastrous  in  its  results.  To  purity  of  religion 
consequences  the  most  pernicious  ensued.  Paganism 
began  to  supplant  Christianity,  leaving  little  save  the 
name.  The  change  in  manj^  doctrines  and  practices 
was  indeed  gradual — Rome  boasts  of  her  tardiness, 
deeming  it  wise  deliberation — but  on  that  account  none 
the  less  real.  Thus,  the  worship  of  images,  though  ex- 
tensively prevalent  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  cen- 

"  Gregory,  in  his  instructions  given  to  Augustine,  missionary  to 
Britain,  says  :  "  Whereas  it  is  a  custom  among  the  Saxons  to  slay 
abundance  of  oxen,  and  sacrifice  them  to  tlie  devil,  you  must  not 
abolish  that  custom,  but  appoint  a  new  festival  to  be  kept  either  on 
the  day  of  the  consecration  of  the  churches,  or  the  birth-day  of  the 
saints  whose  relics  are  deposited  there,  and  on  those  days  tlie  Saxons 
may  be  allowed  to  make  arbors  round  the  temples  changed  into 
churches,  to  kill  their  oxen  and  to  feast,  as  they  did  while  the}^  were 
Pagans,  only  they  shall  offer  their  thanks  and  praises,  not  to  the 
devil,  but  to  God."  Says  Mosheim  :  "This  addition  of  external 
rites  was  also  designed  to  remove  the  opprobrious  calumnies  which 
the  Jewish  and  Pagan  priests  cast  upon  the  Christians  on  account  of 
the  simplicity  of  their  worship,  esteeming  them  little  better  than  athe- 
ists, because  they  had  no  temples,  altars,  victims,  priests,  nor  any- 
thing of  that  external  pomp  in  which  the  vulgar  are  so  prone  to  place 
the  essence  of  religion.  The  rulers  of  the  Church  adopted,  therefore, 
certain  external  ceremonies,  that  thus  they  might  captivate  the  senses 
of  the  vulgar  and  be  able  to  refute  the  reproaches  of  their  adversaries, 
thus  obscuring  the  native  lustre  of  the  Gospel  in  order  to  extend  its 
influence,  and  making  it  lose,  in  point  of  real  excellence,  what  it 
gained  in  point  of  popular  esteem." 


POPERY,  PAGANISM.  73 

tury,  was  not  established  till  the  ninth.  The  sacrifice 
of  the  mass — Rome's  offering  of  human  flesh — though 
originating  about  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century,  and 
almost  universally  believed  in  the  ninth,  being  logically 
and  compactly  fitted  into  the  system,  an  essential  part 
thereof,  was  not  erected  into  a  dogma  until  the  time  of 
Pope  Innocent  III.,  at  the  fourth  Council  of  the  Late- 
ran,  A.  D.  1215.  (Mosheim,  III.  chap.  iii.  part  2.)  So 
likewise  the  invocation  of  saints,  practised  to  some  ex- 
tent in  the  middle  of  the  third  century,  was  without 
ecclesiastical  sanction  till  the  ninth.  No  less  gradual 
was  her  adoption  of  the  doctrine  of  purgatory,  that  relic 
of  ancient  heathenism.  So  likewise  the  use  of  lamps, 
candles,  incense,  holy  water,  and  priestly  robes,  became 
universal  only  by  silencing  opposition  continued  through 
centuries.  But  the  gradual  importation  of  these  cere- 
monies, and  the  slowness  with  Avhich  they  grew  into 
favor,  in  no  way  affect  their  heathen  origin.  That 
Romanism  is  Paganism  perpetuated,  we  shall  endeavor 
to  prove. 

It  was  during  the  three  centuries  that  elapsed  be- 
tween the  pretended  conversion  of  Constantine  and  the 
pontificate  of  Boniface  III.  that  most  of  Rome's  customs 
and  many  of  her  doctrines  were  imported  from  heathen- 
ism. The  religion  of  Jesus  became  a  mere  form,  and 
not  a  life.  Those  who  once,  as  idolaters,  worshipped  Ju- 
piter and  the  host  of  gods,  afterward,  while  worship- 
ping the  same  images  under  the  names  of  saints  and 
martj'rs,  claimed  to  be  Christians.     As  a  necessary  re- 


74  POPERY,  PAGANISM. 

suit,  the  same  ceremonies,  in  the  main,  prevailed  in  the 
churches  of  these  so-called  followers  of  Jesus  as  in  the 
Pagan  temples.  At  the  door  of  the  temple  stood  a  vase 
of  holy  water,  from  which  the  people  sprinkled  them- 
selves. *  How  exactly  has  Rome  copied  this  custom  ! 
Go  into  any  Romish  chapel  or  cathedral,  and  you  will 
find  the  vessel  containing  the  consecrated  water,  and 
modern  heathens  crossing  themselves.  The  very  com- 
position of  the  water  is  the  same,  a  mixture  of  salt  with 
common  water. 

One  of  the  most  ridiculous  uses  to  which  this  water 
is  applied,  the  sprinkling  of  horses,  mules  and  asses,  is, 
like  all  the  other  customs,  borrowed  from  ancient 
Rome.  On  the  Festival  of  St.  Anthony,  observed  an- 
nually in  the  eternal  city,  the  priest,  dressed  in  sacer- 
dotal robes,  after  muttering  some  Latin  words,  intended 
as  a  charm  against  sickness,  death,  famine,  and  danger, 
sprinkles  with  a  huge  brush  all  the  animals  brought  in 
from  the  surrounding  country,  blasphemously  repeating, 
"  In  nomine  Patris,  et  Filii,  et  Sancti  Spiritus."  St. 
Anthony,  taking  literally  the  command,  "  Preach  the 
Gospel  to  every  creature,"  concluded  that  the  "  Good 
Tidings  "  ought  to  be  proclaimed  to  the  inferior  crea- 
tion, to  birds,  beasts,  and  fishes.  Hence  the  Pope  has 
in  the  Vatican  a  picture  representing  even  fish  as  de- 
voutly listening,  heads  out  of  water,  to  a  preaching 
friar!     It  is  on  the  17th  of  January  that  the  festival 


*  "  The  Amula  was  a  vase  of  holy  water,  placed  by  the  heathens  at 
the  dooi-  of  their  temples,  to  sprinkle  themselves  with." — Montfaucou. 


POPERY,  PAGANISM.  75 

of  this  famous  St.  Anthony,  patron  of  animals,  is  cele- 
brated. When  this  falls  on  Sabbath,  great  is  the  con- 
course, uproarious  is  the  merriment,  profitable  indeed 
is  the  laughable  farce  :  neighing  horses,  braying  asses, 
bleating  sheep,  barking  dogs,  men,  women,  and  children, 
each  rivalling  the  other  in  loquacity,  shouting  priests, 
the  rattling  carriages  of  cardinals  and  nobles,  and  the 
clink'bf  the  fees  as  they  drop  into  the  sacred  treasury, 
produce  together  a  din  that  Pandemonium  might  envy, 
possibly  could  equal,  certainly  could  not  surpass.  The 
entire  scene  is  one  that  would  almost  certainly  prove 
fatal  to  an  old  Pagan  philosopher,  should  he  rise  from 
his  grave.  A  fit  of  laughter  would  speedily  terminate 
his  second  existence.  And  this  benediction  in  this 
nineteenth  century!  The  wheel  of  progress  must  be 
moving  backwards.  The  dark  age  must  be  the  present, 
the  midnight  in  Rome.  And  then  to  see  an  ass  pulled 
by  the  tail  to  the  door  of  the  church  to  receive  perforce 
St.  Anthony's  blessing,  kicking  and  raising  its  solemn 
voice  in  earnest  protest,  and  going  home,  tail  straight 
out  and  head  down,  sighing,  "  Life  is  a  failure."  Well ! 
human  nature,  as  it  exists  among  Protestants,  could 
endure  only  one  such  exhibition. 

Even  Romanists  themselves  regard  this  sprinkling 
of  animals  as  a  Pagan  custom,  perfected  by  the  touch 
of  infallibility.  The  old  Romans,  say  they,  were  accus- 
tomed to  sprinkle  the  horses  at  the  Circensian  games. 
It  guarded  them,  it  was  believed,  against  evil  spirits 
and  accidents  in  the  race.     "  Once  on  a  time,"  says  a 


76  POPERY,  PAGANISM. 

Catholic  legend,  "  the  horses  of  some  Christians  outran 
those  of  the  heathen,  because  thej  were  sprinkled  with 
holy  water."  Therefore  this  custom  ought  to  be  per- 
petuated ;  it  has  the  sanction  of  God,  the  venerableness 
of  antiquity,  and  was  introduced  by  a  saint,  tlie  great 
Antliony  !  The  following  may  be  found  over  the  ves- 
sels of  holy  water  in  the  Church  of  S.  Carlo  Borromeo, 
in  the  Corso,  at  Rome : 

"  Holy  water  possesses  much  usefulness  when  Christians  sprinkle 
themselves  with  it  with  due  reverence  and  devotion.  The  Holy 
Church  proposes  it  as  a  remedy  and  assistant  in  many  circum- 
stances both  spiritual  and  corporeal,  but  especially  in  these  follow- 
ing: 

"Jfe  Spiritual  Usefulness. 

"  1.  It  drives  away  devils  from  places  and  from  persons. 

"  2.  It  afibrds  great  assistance  against  fears  and  diabolical  illusions. 

"  3.  It  cancels  venial  sins., 

"  4.  It  imparts  strength  to  resist  temptations  and  occasions  to  sin. 

"  5.  It  drives  away  wicked  thoughts. 

"  6.  It  preserves  safely  from  the  passing  snares  of  the  devil,  both 
internally  and  externally. 

"  7.  It  obtains  the  favor  and  presence  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  by 
which  the  soul  is  consoled,  rejoiced,  and  excited  to  devotion  and 
disposed  to  pi-ayer. 

"  8.  It  prepares  the  mind  for  a  better  attendance  on  the  divine 
mysteries,  and  receiving  piously  and  worthily  the  most  Holy  Sa- 
crament. 

"Its  Corporeal  Usefulness. 

"1.  It  is  a  remedy  against  barrenness  in  women  and  beasts. 
"  2.  It  is  a  preservation  from  sickness. 

"  3.  It  heals  the  infirmities  both  of  the  mind  and  of  the  body. 
"  4.  It  purifies  infected  air  and  drives  away  plague  and  con- 
tagion." 


POPERY,  PAGANISM.  77 

Wonderful  water ! 

Nor  is  the  use  of  holy  water  their  only  conspicuous 
theft.  Clouds  of  smoke,  we  are  told,  arose  from  the 
burning  incense  as  the  idol  worshippers  entered  the 
temple.*  This  custom  of  using  incense  for  religious 
purposes  was  so  peculiarly  pagan,  and  felt,  both  by 
Christians  and  their  enemies,  as  so  strikingly  unbecom- 
ing those  who  worshipped  the  humble  Nazarene,  that 
the  method  most  frequently  adopted  by  the  heathen 
persecutors  of  testing  the  fidelity  of  a  Christian  to  his 
convictions  was  to  order  him  to  throw  incense  into  the 
censer.  K  he  refused,  he  was  accounted  a  Christian ; 
if  he  threw  even  the  least  particle  upon  the  altar,  he 
was  acquitted  and  classed  among  Pagans.  In  the 
churches  of  the  great  apostasy  no  one  can  fail  to  notice 
the  use  of  perfumes.  Often  their  cathedrals  remain 
filled  with  the  fumes  of  the  incense  for  some  considera- 
ble time  after  the  services  are  concluded. 

Closer  still  is  Rome's  resemblance  to  Paganism. 
The  heathen  worshipper,  on  entering  the  temple,  knelt 
before  an  idol  and  offered  prayers.  The  devout  papist, 
as  he  enters  the  church,  often  may  be  found  kneeling 
before  an  image  of  the  Virgin,  praying,  "  0  holy  Mary  ! 
MY  Sovereign  Queen,  and  most  loving  Mother  !  re- 
ceive ME  under  thy  blessed  PATRONAGE,  AND  SPECIAL 
PROTECTION,  AND  INTO  THE  BOSOM  OF  THY  MERCY,  THIS 
DAY,  AND  EVERY  DAY,  AND  AT    THE  HOUR  OF  MY  DEATH."  f 

*  "  Thuricremis  cum  dona  imponerit  Aris." — Virg.  ^u.  iv.  453. 
t  "The  Catholic  Manual,"  p.  46. 


78  POPERY,  PAGANISM. 

"  0  GREAT,  EXCELLENT,  AND  MOST  GLORIOUS  LaDT,  PROS- 
TRATE AT  THE  FOOT  OF  THY  THRONE,  TVE  ADORE  THEE  FROM 
■THIS  VALLEY  OF  TEARS."  *  "  HaiL  !  HoLY  QuEEN, 
MOTHER  OF  MERCY,  OUR  LIFE,  OUR  SWEETNESS,  AND  OUR 
HOPE  !     TO   THEE   WE   CRY,    POOR   BANISHED   SONS   OF   EyE, 

to  thee  tye  send  our  sighs,  mourning  and  weeping  in 
this  valley  of  tears.     turn   then,   most   gracious 
advocate  !  thy  eyes  of  mercy  towards  us."  f 
"  0  Holy  Mother  of  our  God  ! 

To  thee  for  HELP  WE  FLY  ; 

Despise  not  this  our  humble  prayer, 
But  all  our  wants  supply."  { 

Were  the  most  degraded  of  the  heathen  ever  guilty 
of  idolatry  grosser  than  this  ? 

That  they  might  clearly  e\adence  the  heathen  origin 
of  their  customs,  particulars  seemingly  the  most  insig- 
nificant were  not  allowed  to  pass  into  disuse.  Even 
the  arrangement  of  images  in  rows  around  the  temple, 
the  most  highly  prized  standing  alone  in  the  most  con- 
spicuous place,  has  been  slavishly  copied,  not  only  in 
centuries  past,  but  in  this  late  age.  Nay,  even  the 
priest,  dressed  in  robes  apparently  after  the  very  pat- 
tern of  those  that  decked  the  priests  of  ancient  Rome, 
and  attended,  like  his  predecessors,  by  a  boy  in  white, 
swings  his  pot  of  incense  precisely  as  an  old  heathen  in 
Homer's  time  may  be  presumed  to  have  done. 

Laboriously  endeavoring  to  exhaust  the  Pagan  ritual, 

*  "  The  Glories  of  Mary,"  Amer.  Ed.,  p.  513,  etc. 
t  "The  Catholic  [Manual,"  p.  222.     %  Idem,  p.  433. 


POPERY,  PAGANISM.  79 

candles  are  kept  burning  before  each  altar  and  idol.* 
In  the  churches  of  Italy  they  hang  up  lamps  at  every 
altar,  says  Mabillon.  The  Egj-ptians,  says  Herodotus, 
first  introduced  the  use  of  lamps  in  worship.  Rollin 
says  (vol.  i.,  pt.  2,  ch.  2),  "A  festival  surnamed  the 
Feast  of  Lights,  was  solemnized  at  Sais.  All  persons 
throughout  all  Egypt,  who  did  not  go  to  Sais,  were 
obliged  to  illuminate  their  windows."  So  strikingly 
conspicuous  was  this  part  of  the  heathen  worship,  that 
the  early  Christians  tauntingly  said  of  their  foes — 
"  They  light  up  candles  to  God  as  if  he  lived  in  the 
dark,  .  .  .  offering  lamps  to  the  Author  and  Giver  of 
Light." 

Even  the  fiction  of  Purgatory,  of  which  Gregory  the 
Great  has  generally  been  represented  by  Papists  as 
creator,  and  which  has  ever  proved  a  source  of  immense 
wealth  to  the  Pope  and  the  clergy,  is  evidently  an  im- 
portation from  Paganism.  Like  most  of  the  other  cus- 
toms of  the  man  of  sin,  it  came  in  soon  after  Constan- 
tine's  pretended  conversion,  when  Christianity  became 
fashionable,  and  to  men  ambitious  of  distinction  at  the 
court,  extremely  profitable.  Unknown  to  the  Christian 
Church  during  the  first  five  centuries,  it  was,  however, 
well  known  in  the  heathen  world  even  so  early  as 
Homer's  time.  It  is  the  old  fire  purification  of  souls ; 
and  the  ceremonies  now  employed  for  the  relief  of  those 
suffering  the  tormenting  flames  are  remarkably  similar 
to  those  anciently  employed  by  Pagan   priests. t     In 

*  Virgil,  "^neid,"  iv.  200.  f  "Odyssey,"  xii.,  and  "^neid,"  vi. 


80  POPERY,  PAGANISM. 

fact  the  doctrine  was  so  purely  heathen,  that  not  even 
Popish  ingenuity  could  invent  even  an  argument  in  its 
favor.  Hence  the  Jesuit  Cottonus,  failing  to  find  a 
passage  in  Scripture  that  would  infallibly  confinn  it, 
implored  the  devil  to  assist  him.  For  once  even  Satan 
himself  was  unable  to  wrest  Scripture  to  his  purpose. 
But,  notwithstanding  the  small,  the  exceedingly  unim- 
portant consideration  that  no  proof,  except  visions  and 
dreams  and  assertion,  was  found,  the  Popes  were  able 
m  the  end  to  establish  infallibly  everything  connected 
with  purgatorial  fires,  and  locate  them  at  the  earth's 
centre,  18,300*  miles  below  the  surface.  Infallibility 
don't  need  to  know  geography ! 

Their  custom  of  invoking  the  dead  is  of  heathen 
origin.  The  true  Church  of  God  never  offered  prayers 
to  deceased  mortals.  The  ancient  Romans,  however, 
deified  their  great  men,  and  sought  blessings  from 
them.  And  the  Papists,  imitating  their  example, 
canonize  those  whom  they  honor  during  life,  offer  in- 
cense to  them,  bow  before  them  and  supplicate  their 
assistance.  Thus  in  "  The  Litany  of  Saints,"  found  in 
"  The  Catholic  Manual,"  their  ordinary  book  of  prayer, 
we  find  these  petitions : 


St.  Stephen ! 

St.  Laurence! 

St.  Vincent! 

St,  Fabian,  and  St.  Sebastian! 

St.  John,  and  St.  Paul ! 

St.  Cosmas,  and  St.  Damian ! 


h3 


? 


POPERY,  PAGANISM.  3I 

St.  Gervase,  and  St.  Protase ! 
All  ye  holy  Martyrs  ! 
St.  Sylvester ! 
St.  Gregory ! 
St.  Ambrose ! 
St.  Augustin ! 
St.  Jerom ! 
St.  Martin  ! 
St.  Nicholas ! 

All  ye  holy  Bishops  and  Confessors ! 
All  ye  holy  Doctors ! 
St.  Anthony! 
St.  Bennet ! 
St.  Bernard! 
St.  Dominick ! 
St.  Francis ! 

All  ye  holy  Priests,  and  Levites  ! 
All  ye  holy  Monks,  and  Hermits! 
St.  ]\Iary  Magdalen ! 
St.  Agatha ! 
St.  Lucyi 
St.  Agnes ! 

St.  Cecily  !  (etc.  for  two  more  pages  ! )  Make  inter- 
cession for  us ! 

And  from  the  Freeman's  Journal  (Sept.  24,  1870) 
we  learn  that  the  Archbishop  of  Cincinnati,  in  an  ad- 
dress delivered  at  the  ceremonies  attending  the  deposit- 
ing of  relics  in  the  convent  of  the  St.  Franciscan  Sisters 
(Cincinnati),  piously  exhorted  all  devout  Catholics  to 
ask  the  mediation  of  St.  Aureliana.  The  mortal 
remains  of  this  saint,  after  sixteen  centuries'  quiet  rest, 
were  taken  (a  chance  to  exercise  faith),  from  the  Cata- 
6 


82'  POPERY,  PA GAXISM. 

combs  of  Rome,  artistically  incased  in  wax,  transported 
across  the  Atlantic,  and  now  rest,  the  object  of  devout 
veneration,  in  the  metropolis  of  the  West !  This  re- 
markable relic  is  the  fruit  of  the  indomitable  perse ver- 
aiice  of  Mrs.  Sarah  Peters,  the  zealous  convert  whose 
untiring  zeal  was  rewarded  with  the  rare  and  blessed 
pri^dlege  of  hearing  mass  said  by  Pope  Pio  Nono  at  the 
grave  of  St.  Peter,  beneath  St.  Peter's,  Rome.  The 
tasteful  correspondent  of  the  paper,  now  so  zealously 
engaged  in  raising  Peter's  pence  for  "the  infallible 
judge  in  faith  and  morals,  the  bishop  of  the  Universal 
Church,"  says,  "  The  figure  as  it  lay  would  have  been 
exquisite,  had  it  not  been  marred  by  the  ugly  gash  in 
the  throat,  and  an  appearance  of  wounds  on  the  hands 
and  feet,  caused  by  pieces  of  the  bones  which  were  en- 
cased, being  set  in  the  white  wax  for  the  better  venera- 
tion of  the  faithful."  Great  indeed  must  be  the  faith 
which  prompts  persons,  of  even  the  least  common  sense, 
to  venerate  as  the  remains  of  the  "  virgin  martyr  of  the 
proud  and  royal  Aurelian  family,"  a  wax  figure,  with  a 
ghastly  gash  in  the  throat,  and  the  bones  sticking  out ! 
And  what  must  be  the  superstition  which  leads  to  the 
invocation  of  this  resurrected  saint !  We  live  in  the 
year  1871,  and  boast  of  the  world's  progress ! 

This  idolatrous  custom  no  doubt  originated  in  vene- 
ration paid  to  departed  worthies.  Those,  however, 
who  so  far  conformed  to  heathen  practices,  soon  offered 
worship  to  the  creature.  So  universal  became  this 
superstition  that  even  the  ancient  temple,  sacred  to 


POPER  Y,  PA  GA  NISM.  8  3 

Romulus,  where  infants  were  presented  by  their  Pagan 
mothers  to  be  cured  of  diseases,  was  consecrated  to  a 
Roman  saint,  Theodorus,  to  whom  Catholic  mothers 
present  their  sick  children  for  healing.  Nay,  even  the 
Pantheon,  house  of  all  the  gods,  the  most  celebrated 
heathen  temple  of  antiquity,  was  rededicated  by  Pope 
Boniface  TV.  "  to  the  blessed  Virgin  and  all  the  saints." 
And  to  this  day,  with  the  gods  of  old  Rome  bearing 
the  names  of  Popish  saints,  the  old  Pagan  worship,  in 
ail  its  essential  features,  is  continued.  There  the 
traveller  from  every  Catholic  country  may  find  his 
patron  saint,  and  worship  at  his  altar.  And  as  with 
the  Pantheon  so  with  the  other  heathen  temples ;  wdth 
the  same  ceremonies  they  worship  the  same  idols  under 
new  names.  Diana,  Juno,  Ceres,  and  Venus  became 
the  Virgin  under  different  titles.  Bacchus  became  St. 
Joseph.  Orpheus  and  Apollo  were  regarded  as  types 
of  Christ.  Even  the  same  festivals  were  perpetuated 
under  new  names,  and  consecrated  to  the  commemora- 
tion of  Christian  anniversaries.  The  Liberalia  were 
made  to  yield  to  the  festival  of  St.  Joseph,  the  ceremo- 
nies being  slightly  changed.  The  Palilia  were  retained 
as  a  festival  in  honor  of  St.  John.  The  feast  of  St. 
Peter  ad  Vincula  superseded  the  festival  commemora- 
tive of  Augustus'  victory  at  Actium.  The  Floralia, 
when  the  streets  were  strewn  with  flowers  arranged  in 
fantastic  forms,  were  devoted  to  Our  Lady.  Even  the 
wild  festivities  of  the  Saturnalia  were  in  some  measure 
retained  in  the  excesses  which  were  allowed  at  Christ- 


84  POPERY,   PAGANISM. 

mas  and  Epiphany.  Tlie  Cerealia,  in  honor  of  Ceres, 
the  goddess  of  corn,  were  transformed  into  the  visita- 
tion of  the  Virgin — the  processions  of  women  and  vir- 
gins, in  white  robes,  vowing  chastity  and  strewing  their 
beds  with  "  agnus  castus  "  being  retained.  In  conse- 
quence of  the  vast  increase  in  the  number  of  saints,  the 
list  of  heathen  festivals  was  exhausted,  so  in  A.  d.  835, 
Gregory  IV.  established  the  feast  of  all  saints. 

A  recent  traveller  to  Rome  says  : — "  You  frequently 
see  persons  prostrate  before  images,  and  in  a  state  of 
the  greatest  apparent  devotion,  even  if  these  images  are 
formed  out  of  materials  taken  from  heathen  temples. 
At  Pisa  I  saw  several  females  prostrate  before  the 
statues  of  Adam  and  Eve,  which  are  exhibited  in  a 
state  of  almost  entire  nudity.  The  celebrated  statue 
of  St.  Peter,  in  the  Church  of  St.  Peter's  at  Rome,  the 
toe  of  which  is  almost  literally  kissed  away,  was  origi- 
nally a  statue  of  Jupiter,  taken  from  the  capitol.  Many 
of  the  altars  and  ornaments  in  the  churches,  are  entirely 
heathen  in  their  origin  and  appearance.  Naked  forms 
in  marble  abound  in  all  the  churches.  Many  of  the 
vases  used  for  baptismal  purposes,  and  those  cont.iii/mg 
the  Holy  Water,  were  anciently  used  for  similar  pur- 
poses in  the  days  of  heathenism." 

Such  unseemly  haste  has  characterized  Rome's  pro- 
pensity to  manufacture  saints,  that  some  ridiculous 
mistakes  have  occured.  Thus,  they  have  canonized 
Julia  Evodia,  a  heathen,  respecting  whom  nothing  is 
known  except  that  she  erected  a  tombstone^  to  her  hea- 


POPERY,  PAGANISM.  85 

then  mother.  They  have,  by  the  power  of  the  ke^'s, 
infallibly  converted  a  mountain  into  a  saint,  Mount 
Soracte,  becoming  S.  Oracte,  St.  Oreste.  They  have 
also  a  St.  Viar,  manufactured  by  a  procrustean  process 
from  PrefectuS  YIARum,  overseer  of  roads ;  a  sainted 
cloak,  and  a  sainted  handkerchief.  In  honor  of  the 
last-mentioned  saint,  whose  surface  bears  an  impression 
of  the  Saviour's  face,  a  true  image,  made  as  he  wiped 
his  face  at  the  execution,  Pope  John  XXII.  composed 
a  prayer  as  follows : — "  Hail  holt  face  of  our  Re- 
deemer, PRINTED  upon  A  CLOTH  AS  WHITE  AS  SNOW  ;  PURGE 
US  FROM  ALL  SPOT  OF  VICE,  AND  JOIN  US  TO  THE  COMPANY 
OF  THE   BLESSED.       BrING   US    TO   OUR    COUNTRY,  0    HAPPY 

Figure,  there  to  see  the  pure  face  of  Christ."  *  This 
sacred  relic — preserved  in  St.  Peter's,  where  is  an  altar 
erected  by  Pope  Urban  YIII.  to  the  honor  of  Veronica, 
"vera  icon,"  the  true  image — grants,  according  to  Pope 
Innocent  III.,  ten  days'  indulgence  to  all  who  visit 
it.  Shades  of  Paganism,  did  ever  superstition  equal 
that !  "  His  Infallibility,"  Pope  Pius  IX.,  certainly 
deserves  commiseration.  To  be  the  rock  which  shall 
support  this  mighty  fabric  of  baptized  Paganism,  must 
be  an  oppressive  life  ! 

And  to  make  the  resemblance  to  heathenism  com- 
plete in  everything  pertaining  to  saints,  "  Holy  Mo- 
ther" earnestly  recommends  every  Catholic  to  select 
some  particular  saint  as  a  protecting  divinity,  a  patror>. 


*  Bower's  "Lives  of  the  Popes." — Life  of  Innocent  III. 


86  POPERY,  PAGANISM. 

Thus,  in  a  "  Catechism  and  Instructions  "  designed  for 
very  small  children  by  M.  C.  Kavanagh,  and  having 
the  unqualified  commendation  of  one  of  Rome's  most 
honored  Archbishops,  occurs  this  pious  advice,  "  You 
sliouUl  never  he  loWiout  some  object  of  piety ^  such  as  a 
Crucifix^  picture  of  Our  Lady,  your  good  Angel,  or 
Patron  Saiiif,  in  your  bedroom"  Anciently,  every  Ro- 
man family  had  its  penates,  its  household  gods,  a  neces- 
sary appendage  to  every  dwelling. 

Their  priestly  power  is  an  imitation  of  Pagan  spiritual 
despotism.  In  the  true  Church,  "  all  are  kings  and 
priests  unto  God."  Even  the  most  humble,  unknown, 
ignorant,  and  even  sinful  creature,  "  may  come  boldly 
unto  the  throne  of  grace."  But  the  Papal  priests,  ser- 
vile copyists  of  the  heathen,  tyrannize  over  the  souls 
of  men,  and  claim  the  right  to  stand  between  the  peni- 
tent sinner  and  his  Saviour.  All  the  blessings  which 
he  desires,  and  so  much  needs,  must  come  through  the 
good-will  and  efficacious  services  of  priests.  And  these, 
forgetting  that  he  who  would  serve  God  acceptably  in  the 
ministry  of  the  Gospel,  must  be  "  least  of  all"  and  ''  ser- 
vant of  all,"  are  too  often  proud,  insolent,  tyrannical. 

Their  processions  are  of  heathen  origin.  The  ancient 
Romans,  on  set  days,  paraded,  bearing  lighted  candles 
and  carrying  idols  dressed  in  costly  clothing.  At  these 
solemnities  priests  were  assisted  by  the  magistrates  in 
ceremonial  robes.  The  youth,  gaudily  dressed,  followed, 
singing  songs  in  honor  of  the  god  whose  festival  they 
were  celebrating.     Most  slavishly  has  this  custom  been 


POPERY,  PAGANISM.  87 

copied  in  Roman  Catholic  countries.  At  the  festival 
of  the  Holy  Virgin,  or  some  other  Romish  saint,  the 
priests,  magistrates,  and  even  ladies  and  mere  boys, 
with  lighted  wax  candles  in  their  hands,  form  in 
solemn  procession,  bearing  images,  and  chanting  hymns. 
A  traveller  to  Rome  thus  describes  the  festival  of  the 
Annunciation:  —  "Processions  of  penitents  are  seen 
silently  wending  their  way  along  the  streets,  clothed 
in  long  l^lack  robes,  preceded  by  a  black  cross,  and 
bearing  in  their  hands  skulls  and  bones,  and  contribu- 
tion-boxes for  souls  in  purgatory.  .  .  .  The  Pope  him- 
self was  clothed  in  robes  of  white  and  silver,  and  as  he 
jDassed  along  the  crowds  of  gazing  people  that  lined  the 
streets  and  filled  the  windows,  he  forgot  not  incessantly 
to  repeat  his  benediction — a  twirl  of  three  fingers,  tjpi- 
cal  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost — the  little  finger 
representing  the  latter.  Many  tiresome  ceremonies 
followed  his  entry  into  the  church.  He  was  seated  on 
his  throne ;  all  the  Cardinals  successively  approached — 
kissed  his  hand — retired  a  step  or  two — gave  three  low 
bows — one  to  him  in  front,  as  personifying  God  the 
Father,  one  to  the  right,  intended  for  the  Son,  and  one 
to  the  left  for  the  Holy  Ghost."  Most  powerfully  do 
such  scenes  remind  us  of  the  pompous  ceremonies  of 
ancient  Paganism ;  we  seem  standing  in  the  midst  of 
some  heathen  city  of  the  ages  past,  and  witnessing 
their  grotesquely  solemn  superstitions. 

The  title  of  Pontifex  Maximus  is  conspicuously  a 
theft  from  ancient  Rome.     All  good  Papists  are  stanch 


88  POPERY,  PAGANISM. 

advocates  of  the  Pope's  supremacy.  They  consider  him 
the  Vicar  of  Christ,  infallible  Head  of  the  Church, 
fountain  of  all  holiness,  source  of  all  spiritual  blessings, 
successor  to  St.  Peter.  Admitting  that  Peter  was  in 
Rome,  and  was  bishop  of  the  entire  Church — which  no 
Papist  has  ever  yet  successfully  proved — the  fact  is  yet 
undeniable  that  the  name,  the  office,  the  authority, 
and  the  functions  of  the  Pope  are  precisely  the  same 
as  those  of  the  chiefest  pontiff  in  Pagan  Rome. 
The  worldly  pomp  and  splendor  that  now  surround 
the  Papal  court,  comporting  so  poorly  with  what  we 
know  of  the  poverty,  self-denial,  and  simple  manners 
of  the  ardent,  impetuous  Apostle,  point  unmistakably 
to  the  Pontifex  Maximus  of  old  Rome.  He,  like  his 
servile  imitators,  claimed  to  be  the  arbiter  of  all  cases, 
civil  and  sacred,  human  and  divine.  •  If  loyal  Roman- 
ists, therefore,  would  say  that  the  present  Pope  is  the 
legitimate  successor  of  the  lordly  pontiff  who,  even 
when  Christ  was  a  babe  in  Bethlehem,  could  claim 
regular  succession  from  pontiffs  dating  backwards  for 
centuries,  they  would  tell  the  truth  for  once,  and  might 
add  fresh  laurels  to  their  boasted  claim  of  antiquity. 

The  votive  offerings  so  frequently  made  in  CathoUc 
churches  are  an  imitation  of  a  custom  practised  in  Rome 
long  prior  to  the  Christian  era.  Nothing  was  more 
common  than  votive  gifts  presented  to  the  gods  in  con- 
sequence of  vows  taken  in  times  of  danger,  or  for  some 
supposed  miraculous  deliverance.  Of  this  the  authors 
of  Greece  and  Rome  make  frequent  mention.     Even 


POPERY,  PAGANISif.  89 

this  means  of  fostering  sujDerstition  did  not  escape  Ro- 
mish observation.'  It  was  early  incorporated  into  the 
scheme  of  Popish  worship.  Around  the  shrines  of  the 
saints  are  hung,  in  ahnost  countless  number,  these 
votive  offerings,  ''■vidences  at  once  of  the  grossest  super- 
stition and  of  the  most  servile  imitation  of  Pagan  prac- 
tices. A  correspondent  of  a  secular  paper,  writing 
recently  from  Paris,  gives  an  animated  description  of 
a  scene  witnessed  in  one  of  the  Cathedrals  of  the 
French  capital  on  the  reception  of  news  by  mail  from 
MacMahon's  defeated  army.  Wives,  sisters,  lovers, 
were  seen  presenting  their  gifts  to  Our  Lady — thanks- 
giving offerings  for  the  deliverance  of  their  loved  ones ; 
others,  hanging  up  their  gifts,  knelt  and  tearfully  im- 
plored the  protection  of  the  Mother  of  God  for  the 
exposed,  the  wounded,  the  suffering,  the  dying.  Marble 
tablets,  about  eight  inches  by  four,  graven  with  senti- 
ments such  as  these,  "  In  humble  thankfulness  for  the 
return  of  my  beloved  husband  from  the  war,"  "  Honor 
to  Our  Lady  for  her  merciful  deUverance,"  "  In  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  prayer  Our  Lady  answered,"  covered  all 
the  walls  and  even  the  pillars  overhead,  so  that  the 
entire  church  of  Our  Lady  of  Victory  was  literally  lined 
with  these  records  of  gratitude.  To  make  the  heathen 
scene  complete,  there  were  lighted  candles  and  jDic- 
tures,  officiating  priests  in  gaudy  vestments,  and  a 
glittering  altar  loaded  with  ornaments  and  votive 
offerings. 

The  sacrifice  of  the  mass  is  a  conformity  to  Paganism 


90  POFERY,  PAGANISM. 

as  disgusting  as  it  is  slavishly  accurate.  Christians 
have  always  believed  that  Christ's  death  is  an  all-suffi- 
cient sacrifice  for  sin,  and  has  forever  done  away  with 
the  necessity  and  propriety  of  any  other.  "  For  by  one 
offering  he  hath  perfected  forever  th^:n  that  are  sanc- 
tified." "The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  cleanseth  from  all 
sin."  Popery,  however,  like  Paganism,  dishonors  this 
one  perfect  sacrifice,  by  substituting  others  in  its  stead. 
It  is  indeed  true  that  Paj)ists  do  not  offer  the  blood  of 
bulls  and  goats ;  they  offer,  however,  what  is  far  less 
reasonable  and  more  grossly  superstitious,  A  consecrated 
WAFER,  particles  of  bread,  transubstantiated,  by  the 
magic  words  of  the  priest,  into  the  "  actual  hochj,  blood, 
soul  and  divinity  of  Christ  f  into  ^^liis  hones,  nerves, 
muscles ;"  and  the  wine  into  "  his  real  blood,  ichich 
floiDed  in  his  veins."  If  priest  and  people  really  believe 
what  they  so  repeatedly  affirm  they  believe,  then  are 
they  among  the  most  degraded  of  heathen  worshippers — 
ojfering  human  flesh  on  tlie'ir  altars,  eating  human  flesh 
and  drinking  human  blood.  Either,  then,  human  sac- 
rifices are  perpetuated,  and  that,  too,  in  the  most  shock- 
ing, most  revolting  form,  or  infalhbility  errs.  Either 
the  priest  creates  a  god,  offers  him  as  a  sacrifice  for  sin, 
and  ends  in  eating  him,  or  all  Papists  worship  flour 
AND  WATER.  There  is  the  dilemma !  Romanists,  choose 
which  horn  you  please. 

But  even  heathen,  in  their  wildest  vagaries,  never 
clung  to  customs  so  repugnant  to  common  sense  as 
many  that  grow  out  of  the  doctrine  of  transubstan- 


POPERY,  PAGANISM.  91 

tiation.  For  example,  the  priest,  holding  a  wafer  be- 
tween his  thumb  and  the  forefinger  of  his  right  hand, 
says  :  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the 
sin  of  the  world,"  which  ho  thrice  repeats,  then  lajs 
one  wafer  upon  the  tongue  of  each  communicant.  In 
winter,  the  wafers  are  consecrated  twice  a  month,  in 
summer,  once  a  week.  Consecration  is  oftener  in  sum- 
mer than  in  winter,  because  the  host,  by  the  excessive 
heat,  corrupts,  producing  worniii !  A  god  turned  to 
worms!!  It  is  an  injunction  of  Holy  Mother,  how- 
ever, that  this  corrupted  host  must  be  eaten.  It  is 
still  "  the  body,  blood,  soul  and  divinity  of  Christ." 
Again :  ''  If  in  winter  the  blood  be  frozi^n  in  the  cup, 
put  warm  cloths  about  the  cup ;  if  that  will  not  do,  let 
it  be  put  into  boiling  water  near  the  altar,  till  it  be 
melted,  taking  care  it  does  not  get  into  the  cup."  A 
2;od  frozen  and  warmed  with  banda2;es  or  boilino-  water! ! 
Surely,  men  have  lost  their  reason !  Heathen  were 
never  so  devoid  of  common  sense.  Worse  still :  "  If 
any  of-  the  blood  of  Christ  fall  upon  the  ground  by  neg- 
ligence, it  must  be  licked  up  with  the  tongue,  the  place 
be  sufficiently  scraped,  and  the  scrapings  burned ;  but 
the  ashes  must  be  buried  in  holy  ground."'-'  "If  after 
consecration  a  gnat  or  spider,  or  any  such  thing,  fall 
into  the  chalice,  let  the  priest  swallow  it  with  the 
blood,  if  he  can;  but  if  he  fear  danger,  and  have  a 
loathing,  let  him  take  it  out  and  wash  it  with  wine, 

*  "Roman  Missal,"  p.  53,  etc. — Eespectiug  Defects  occurring  in 
the  Muss. 


92  POPERY,  PAGANISM. 

and  when  mass  is  ended,  burn  it  and  cast  it  and  the 
washing  into  holy  ground."*  It  was  solemnly  declared 
by  a  reverend  father,  seconded  by  several  friars,  that 
a  dog,  which  had  accidentally  caught  and  eaten  the 
falling  wafer,  should  be  henceforth  called  "  the  sacra- 
ment dog ;"  that  when  he  died  he  should  be  buried  in 
consecrated  ground,  that  he  must  not  be  allowed  to 
play  -with  other  dogs,  and  that  the  woman  who  owned 
him  must  place  a  silver  dog  on  the  tabernacle  where 
the  host  was  deposited,  and  pay  a  sum  of  money  to  the 
church.  Surehj  Popery  lias  out-paganized  Paganism 
itself. 

Nothing  is  more  evident  than  that  asceticism,  which 
is  manifestly  opposed  to  the  whole  spirit  of  the  Bible, 
is  of  Pagan  origin.  It  is  a  vain  attempt  to  work  out 
salvation  by  severe  self-denial,  by  withdrawing  from 
the  abodes  of  men  and  the  customary  pursuits  of  life, 
and  undergoing  penance  with  the  hope  that  God  is 
well  pleased  with  those  who  render  miserable  the  life 
he  gave  them.  The  Eremites  of  the  heathen,  especi- 
ally those  of  Egypt,  the  Essenes  and  the  Thera|)euta9, 
retiring  from  the  world  and  all  useful  occupations, 
vowing  chastity,  poverty  and  obedience,  clothing  them- 
selves in  skins  or  the  coarsest  materials,  dwelling  in 
caverns,  practising  tortures,  sometimes  even  scourging 
themselves  with  whips,  and  passing  much  of  their  time 
in  silent  contemplation,  w^ere  accustomed  to  travel  from 

*  "Roman  Missal,"  p.  53,  etc. — Respecting  Defects  occurring  in 
the  Mass. 


POPERY,  PAGANISM.  93 

house  to  house,  with  sacks  upon  their  backs,  begging 
bread,  wine,  and  all  kinds  of  victuals  for  the  support 
of  their  lazy  fraternities.  Precisely  the  same  customs 
prevail  even  now  in  India  and  Siam,  handed  down 
from  the  same  source,  Egypt,  the  fruitful  parent  of  so 
many  gloomy  misanthropes.  Hordes  of  mendicant 
joriests,  claiming  superior  sanctity,  feed  on  the  people, 
consuming  the  fruits  of  honest  industry,  and  returning 
no  equivalent.  After  these  heathen  models,  Rome's 
religious  orders  of  monks  and  nuns,  in  their  almost 
endless  variety,  Avere  unquestionably  formed,  and  that 
too  by  the  most  raving  fanatics.  These  orders  have 
precisely  the  same  vows — chastity,  poverty  and  obedi- 
ence. They  retire  into  monasteries,  nunneries,  deserts, 
or  caves,  spend  their  time  in  filth  or  useless  reverie  and 
idleness ;  clothe  themselves  in  rags  and  w^retchedness, 
or  in  garments  powerfully  reminding  one  of  their 
heathen  prototypes,  and  practise  severe  self-inflicted 
tortures.  So  likewise  celibacy,  so  vaunted  in  the  Eo- 
niish  Church,  and  abstinence  from  animal  food,  are 
among  the  austerities  recommended  by  Pagans  centu- 
ries before  the  Christian  era. 

That  no  feature,  at  least  no  important  feature,  of 
Paganism  might  be  allowed  to  fall  into  oblivion,  Rome 
can  boast  of  her  sect,  the  legitimate  successors  of  the 
Gymnosophists  of  Egypt,  which  claims  that  the  per- 
fection of  piety  consists  in  an  annihilation  of  every 
affection  implanted  in  human  nature,  including  e  en 
love  of  one's   parents,  which,  to  any  but  a  heathen, 


94  POPERY,  PAGANIS21. 

might  reasonably  be  presumed  to  be  innocent.  Those 
voluntarily  choosing  a  hermit  life — thus  casting  slander 
on  the  God  that  made  them,  and  more  frequently  fall- 
ing into  gross  sins  than  those  preferring  to  remain  in 
society,  and  there  attempt  to  live  worthy  of  him  whose 
life  was  spent  in  labors  of  love  with  the  multitude — 
became  at  one  time  so  numerous  in  the  infallible  Church, 
that  in  Egypt  alone  their  number  was  little  less  than 
100,000.  In  one  city,  Oxyi'inthus,  there  were  20,000 
virgins  and  10,000  monks.  To  find  from  7000  to 
10,000  lazy  monks  under  the  superintendence  of  one 
abbot  was  by  no  means  unusual. 

And  even  the  self-whipping,  copied  from  the 
priests  of  Isis,  Papists  have  retained.  True,  the  sect 
of  the  Flao'ellantes  no  lonsrer  exists,  but  then  in  the 
eternal  city,  during  the  season  of  Lent,  fleshly  disci- 
pline is  still  practised.  Only  a  short  time  since,  in  one 
of  the  churches  of  Rome,  after  a  brief  season  of  prayer, 
the  candles  being  extinguished,  a  company  of  the  faith- 
ful, for  the  space  of  an  hour,  sacredly  devoted  them- 
selves to  the  use  of  the  consecrated  whip — either  upon 
their  backs  or  upon  the  benches.  Seneca,  referring  to 
this  same  custom  in  Pagan  Rome,  says :  "  If  there  be 
any  gods  that  desire  to  be  Avorshipped  after  this  manner, 
they  do  not  deserve  to  be  worshipped  at  all ;  since  the 
very  worst  of  tyrants,  though  they  have  sometimes 
torn  and  tormented  people,  yet  have  never  commanded 
men  to  torture  themselves."  And  the  Emperor  Com- 
modus,  shrewd  old  Pagan  as  he  was,  being  opj)osed  to 


POPERY,  PAGANISM.  9,5 

people  wearing  unearned  laurels,  ordered  these  self- 
whippers  "  to  lash  themselves  in  good  earnest,  and  not 
feign  it  merely  and  impose  upon  the  people." 

Even  so  trifling  a  circumstance  as  kissing  the  Pope's 
toe  is  borrowed  from  the  heathen  Emperor  and  tyrant, 
Caligula.  When  first  the  pontifical  toe  of  the  old 
pagan  was  introduced  to  the  public,  it  aroused  a  violent 
storm  of  indignation,  being  taken  as  the  greatest  possi- 
ble insult  to  freedom.  Now,  however,  in  Christian 
Rome,  it  scarcely  ruffles  the  serenity  of  even  the  proud- 
est and  most  honored  Papist.  It  is  the  condition  of 
access  into  the  awe-inspiring  presence  of  "Our  Lord 
God  the  Pope,  infallible  judge  in  faith  and  moralsT 
And  as  he  is  the  legitimate  successor  of  the  lordly  pon- 
tiff who  was  conducted  to  the  castle  of  Toici,  in  France, 
by  two  kings,  one  walking  on  either  side  of  his  horse, 
and  holding  the  bridle  rein ;  and  of  Gregory  VII.,  who 
compelled  the  Emperor  Henry  IV.  to  remain  three  full 
days  at  his  palace  gate,  barefoot  and  fasting,  humbly 
suing  for  admittance,  it  would  be  too  cruel  to  deny  the 
Holy  Father  of  all  Christendom  the  small  honor  of 
having  the  faithful  kiss  his  jewelled  slipper. 

Instead  of  tracing  the  remaining  characteristic  feat- 
ures of  Romanism  back  to  their  heathen  origin,  we  must 
content  ourselves  wdth  bringing  forward  a  few  author- 
ities substantiating  the  position  that  Popery  is  perpetu- 
ated Paganism.  The  first  shall  be  Dean  Waddington. 
"  The  copious  transfusion  of  heathen  ceremonies  into 
Christian  worship,  which  had  taken  place  before   the 


96  POPERY,    FAGAMSM. 

end  of  the  fourth  century,  had,  to  a  certain  extent, 
Paganized  (if  we  may  so  express  it)  the  outward  form 
and  aspect  of  rehgion,  and  these  ceremonies  became 
more  general  and  more  numerous,  and,  so  far  as  the 
calamities  of  the  times  would  permit,  more  splendid  in 
the  age  which  followed.  To  console  the  convert  for  the 
loss  of  his  favorite  festival,  others  of  a  different  name, 
but  similar  description,  were  introduced ;  and  the  sim- 
ple and  serious  occupation  of  spiritual  devotion  was 
beginning  to  degenerate  into  a  worship  of  parade  and 
demonstration,  or  a  mere  scene  of  riotous  festivity." 

Aringhus,  a  Roman  Catholic  witer,  acknowledging 
the  conformity  between  Pagan  and  Popish  rites,  ex- 
plains and  defends  it  as  follows  : — "  The  Popes  found  it 
necessary,  in  the  conversion  of  the  Gentiles,  to  dissemble 
and  wink  at  many  things  and  yield  to  the  times,  and 
not  to  use  force  against  customs  which  the  people  are  so 
obstinately  fond  of,  nor  to  think  of  extirpating  at  once 
everything  that  had  the  appearance  of  profane." 

Dr.  Middleton,  in  his  letters  from  Rome,  to  which  we 
acknowledge  ourselves  indebted  for  many  of  the  above- 
mentioned  facts,  affirms  : — "  All  their  ceremonies  appear 
plainly  to  have  been  copied  from  the  rituals  of  primitive 
Paganism ;  as  if  handed  down  by  an  uninterrupted ' 
succession  from  the  priests  of  old,  to  the  priests  of  new 
Rome."  After  carrying  out  the  comparison  to  an 
extent  which  would  be  wearisome  were  it  not  so  deeply 
interesting,  he  employs  this  language  : — "  I  could  easily 
carry  on  this  parallel,  through  many  more  instances  of 


POPERY,    PAGANISM.  97 

the  Pagan  and  Popish  ceremonies,  to  show  from  what 
spring  all  that  superstition  flows,  which  we  so  justly 
charge  them  with,  and  how  vain  an  attempt  it  must  be 
to  justify  by  the  principles  of  Christianity  a  worship 
formed  upon  the  plan  and  after  the  very  pattern  of  pure 
heathenism." 

Considering  the  evidence  we  are  able  to  present  of 
the  strikingly  accurate  conformity  of  modern  Popery  to 
ancient  Paganism,  who  is  not  ready  to  believe  that  if 
Cicero  should  rise  from  his  grave  in  the  Campus  Martins, 
and  wandering  through  Rome  should  enter  St.  Peter's, 
he  would  certainly  imagine  that  the  successors  of  the 
old  priests,  in  scarcely  a  circumstance  changed,  were, 
with  the  same  fopperies,  which  in  the  times  of  the 
Caesars  excited  the  ridicule  of  the  learned,  worshipping 
Diana,  or  Venus,  or  Apollo  ? 

If,  as  we  beheve  has  been  successfully  proved,  modern 
Romanism  is  only  the  Paganism  of  x'lntechristian  times 
perpetuated,  then  we  may  expect  to  find  it  bearing  a 
close  affinity  to  Buddhism,  the  oldest  known  religion  of 
the  Indo-European  race.  For  unless  Dwight  and  Max 
Muller,  and  in  fact  all  philologists  are  incorrect  in  their 
oft-repeated  declaration  that  India  and  Greece  and 
Rome  were  peopled  by  kindred  tribes,  speaking  cognate 
languages  and  having  essentially  the  same  religion, 
then  is  modem  Popery  the  same  as  Buddhism  of  the 
present  day,  barring  only  the  slight  changes  that  have 
occurred  since  the   separation.      And  as  each   prides 


98  POPERY,    PAGANISM. 

itself  in  veneration  of  the  past,  in  inerrancy  and  im- 
mutability, these  may  be  presumed  to  be  few. 

That  Romanism  is  indeed  the  twin  sister  of  the 
Buddhist  religion  none  surely  can  deny.  A  comparison 
of  the  two  will  force  conviction  upon  even  the  most 
incredulous.  Antedating  Christianity  by  several  cen- 
turies, and  spreading  over  all  the  countries  inhabited 
by  what  are  now  known  as  the  Indo-European  races, 
Buddhism  has  ever  had,  and  now  has,  precisely  those 
features  which  mark  the  Papal  Church,  consisting 
partly  of  maxims  of  morality  and  partly  of  dogmas  of 
faith  on  subjects  transcending  the  reach  of  reason,  it 
rests  conjointly  on  the  authority  of  certain  sacred  books 
and  the  decisions  of  early  councils — called,  like  Rome's, 
oecumenical,  and  blindly  venerated.  The  worshippers 
of  Buddha  in  Burmah,  Siam,  and  the  Chinese  Empire — 
numbering  more  than  the  adherents  of  any  other  relig- 
ious system  known  in  either  ancient  or  modern  times — 
have  their  relics  and  their  images,  the  objects  of  supreme 
veneration;  their  temples  costing  fabulous  sums  of 
money  ;  their  saints  canonized  by  ecclesiastical  author- 
ity ;  their  priests  with  shaven  heads,  vowing  chastity, 
poverty  and  obedience ;  their  wax  candles  burning 
night  and  day;  their  penances  and  self-inflicted  tor- 
tures ;  their  endless  traditions,  and  liair-splitting  moral 
distinctions ;  and  even  their  confessional.  They  have 
also  their  Lent,  when  for  four  or  five  weeks  all  the 
people  are  supposed  to  live  on  vegetables  and  fruits ; 
their  acts  of  merit,  repetition  of  prayers,  fasting,  offer- 


POPERY,    PAGANISM.  99 

ings  to  the  images,  celibacy,  voluntary  poverty,  en- 
forced devotions,  and  munificent  gifts  to  temples, 
monasteries  and  idols.  Even  the  rosary,  a  string  of 
beads  used  in  saying  prayers,  and  supposed  by  Papists 
to  be  a  device  specially  revealed  to  St.  Dominic,  is  part 
of  the  sacred  machinery  of  the  devout  Buddhist.  And 
their  monasteries,  into  which  priests  retire  from  the 
world,  and  engage  in  the  instruction  of  the  3'oung, 
especially  in  the  mysteries  of  their  sacred  books,  almost 
startle  one  by  their  close  resemblance  to  those  of  Popery. 
And  to  see  the  worshippers  of  Buddha,  each  with  a 
rosary  in  his  hand,  prostrate  themselves  before  an 
image  and  repeat  their  prayers,  whilst  priests  in  gaudy 
vestments,  bowing  before  lighted  candles,  mutter  their 
incantations  in  a  language  which  has  long  since  ceased 
to  be  spoken,  forces  upon  even  the  least  reflecting  the 
conviction  that  though  Rome  has  ever  claimed  the 
power  of  working  miracles,  she  has  shown  little  inven- 
tive genius.  Not  even  are  shrines  and  sacred  places  a 
monopoly  with  Rome.  There  are  plenty  of  them,  and 
pilgrims  too,  in  India.  And  why  not,  since  they  have 
their  preaching  friars,  spending  their  time  alternatively 
in  sacred  oratory  and  in  begging.  Nay,  even  modern 
miracles,  though  by  no  means  so  numerous,  and  cer- 
tainly not  so  astounding,  are  performed  by  Rome's  elder 
sister.  And  to  complete  the  picture,  they  have  their 
infallible  pontiff.  At  Lhassa,  as  well  as  at  Rome,  dwells 
one  whom  the  faithful  mahe  believe  cannot  err  when 
speaking  ex   cathedra.     With    two    infallibles,   one   in 


100  POPERY,    PAGANISM. 

Asia  and  one  in  Europe,  the  world  certainly  ought  not 
to  err  in  faith  and  morals.  And  then,  like  the  Roman- 
ist and  the  ancient  Egyptian,  the  learned  Buddhist 
indignantly  repels  the  charge  of  idolatry,  affirming  that 
he  only  employs  idols  as  a  visihle  image  of  the  invisible 
Buddha,  an  aid  in  spiritual  worship.  Alike  in  most 
things,  and  antedated  only  in  one,  infallibility,  Rome 
is,  as  yet,  ahead  in  the  mad  chase  after  superstition. 
Buddhism  has  no  indulgences,  no  purgatory,  no  living 
Eucharist,  that  is,  human  sacrifices : — Paganism  has 
been  outstripped. 


PART    II. 

Popery  essentially  hostile  to  Christianity. 


CHAPTER    I. 

ARROGANCE. 
(2  Thess.  ii.  4.) 

^  AIDING  proved — we  trust  to  the  satisfaction  of 
unprejudiced  minds — that  Romanism  is  tlie  pre- 
^  dieted  foe  of  Christ's  kingdom,  the  mj'stery  of 
iniquity  that  even  in  the  Apostles'  time  was 
beginning  to  work,  the  great  apostasy,  haptized  Pagan- 
ism, it  remains  for  us  to  show  that  she  is,  in  spirit, 
doctrine  and  practice,  hostile  to  the  true  Church  of 
Christ ;  that  in  her  leading  characteristics  she  is  neces- 
sarily antagonistic  to  Christianity,  nor  less  so  in  this 
enlightened  nineteenth  century,  than  in  the  world's 
midnight,  Rome's  golden  age ;  that  her  changes  have 
most  of  them  been  for  the  worse,  towards  grosser 
superstition,  greater  pride,  and  more  absurd  dogmas. 

In  Paul's  glowing  description  of  the  rise  of  Anti- 
christ, occur  these  remarkable  words :  "  Wlio  opposeth 
and  exaltetli  himself  above  all  that  is  called  God,  or  that 
is  icorshipped ;  so  that  he,  as  God,  sitteth  in  the  temple  of 
God,  showing  himself  that  he  is  God."  No  arrogance 
that  the  w^orld  has  ever  witnessed  can  compare  with 
that  of  the  Papal  Church.  It  claims  not  only  immu- 
tability but  also  inerrancy,  not  merely  the  right  to 

103 


104  ARROGANCE. 

bind  the  conscience  and  destroy  the  body,  but  even  to 
damn  the  soul.  It  boastingly  proclaims  itself  able  to 
work  miracles,  to  forgive  sins,  and  to  create  the  world's 
Creator.  Its  proud  pontiff  calls  himself  God's  vice- 
gerent on  earth.  Vicar  of  Christ.  By  his  subjects  he 
is  denominated,  "  His  Holiness,"  "  Our  Lord  God  the 
Pope,"  The  celebrated  canonist,  Prospero  Fagnani, 
the  oracle  of  the  court  of  Rome,  in  his  commentaries 
on  the  Decretals,  thus  defines  the  Pope  : 

"  He  may  make  laws  and  institutions  for  all  the 
world.  He  has  power  over  all  men,  even  infidels.- 
TJie  Pope  judges  all  men,  and  can  be  only  judged  of 
God.  He  cannot  be  judged  of  councils;  nay,  were  tlm 
whole  loorld  to  pronounce  in  any  particular  against  tlve 
Pope,  it  looidd  he  right  to  submit  to  his  judgment  agaitist 
the  iDorld.  Everything  he  does  is  done  by  divine  au- 
thority. The  Pope  may,  by  himself  alone,  determine 
the  symbols  of  faith,  since  it  belongs  to  him  only  to 
decide  in  matters  of  faith.  The  Pope  is  not  subject  to 
the  decisions  of  his  predecessors — not  even  to  that  of  tlie 
Apostles;  for  there  is  no  power  that  can  limit  the 
power  of  the  keys.  He  may  dispense  with  the  observance 
of  the  divine  laws  and  the  Gospel  precepts.  The  Pope 
may  grant  every  species  of  dispensation,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  one,  to  marry  one's  father,  or  one's  mother.  He 
may  depose  magistrates  and  princes,  and  free  their 
subjects  from  their  obligations  to  loyalty.  He  is  king 
of  kings  and  ruler  of  rulers ;  he  is  the  prince  of  bishops, 
tlie  judge  of  all  men.     He  can  create  a  laio  Vjhere  before 


ARROGANCE  105 

there  was  none!'     If  this  is  not  dethroning  the  King  of 
heaven,  what  shall  we  call  it  ? 

Innocent  III.,  in  his  coronation  sermon,  said  : — "  Now 
you  may  see  who  is  the  servant  who  is  placed  over  the 
family  of  the  Lord;  truly  is  he  the  Yicar  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  successor  of  Peter,  the  Christ  of  the  Lord,  tlie 
God  of  Pharaoh;  placed  in  the  middle  between  God  and 
man,  on  this  side  of  God,  hut  heyond  man;  less  than  God, 
hut  greater  than  man  ;  who  judges  all,  hut  is  judged  hy 
iwneJ'  * 

Bellarmine  wrote : — '•  If  the  Pope  should  err  hy  enjoin- 
ing vices  or  prohibiting  virtues,  the  Church,  unless  she 
would  sin  against  conscience,  woidd  he  hound  to  helieve 
vices  to  he  good  and  virtues  evil."  What  can  we  say  to 
men  who  profess  such  doctrines  ? 

Another  writer,  in  defining  the  limits  between  Papal 
and  secular  power,  affirms: — "The  Pope  is  bound  by 
no  forms  of  law;  his  pleasure  is  law.  The  Pope 
makes  right  of  that  which  is  wrong,  and  can  change 
the  nature  of  things.  He  can  change  square  things 
into  round." 

Nor  must  it  be  imagined  that  these  doctrines  are 
only  the  legacy  of  the  dark  ages.  They  are  the  beliefs 
of  the  living  present,  held  more  firmly  now  than  ever. 

*  A  contemporary  poet  addressed  Innocent : — 

"  Xou  Deus  es,  nee  homo  ;  sed  neuter  et  inter  utrumque, 
Quem  Deus  elegit  socium  ;  soci  aliter  egit 
Tecum  partitus  mundum,  sibi  noluit  unus 
Omnia,  sed  voluit  tibi  terras  et  sibi  coelum." 


106  ARROGANCE. 

The  Freeman^ s  Journal  and  Gatliolic  Register  of 
New  York,  under  date  of  Oct.  1,  1870,  holds  this  lan- 
guage : —  "  It  is  as  obligatory  to  hear  the  voice  of  Pius 
IX.,  when  he  speaks,  avowedly  to  the  universal 
Church,  as  it  is  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  Jesus  Christ." 

The  Papal  Church  has  the  effrontery  and  the  blas- 
phemy to  claim,  even  in  this  age,  that  she  is,  always 
has  been  and  ever  will  be,  immutable.  Le  Universe, 
an  Ultramontane  journal  of  France,  lately  contained 
the  following : — 

"  The  Catholic  Church  is  in  the  commencement  of 
all  things.  It  has  always  existed  and  will  always 
exist.  It  was  before  time,  it  is  in  time,  it  will  be 
after  time,  without  spots,  or  wrinkles,  or  any  change. 
It  does  not  change ;  it  is  developed.  It  is  from  God, 
it  is  through  God,  it  will  be  God,  for  God  has  consti- 
tuted it  to  fill  the  human  race  with  divinity,  that  it 
may  become  an  increase  of  God." 

This,  in  face  of  Rome's  numberless  changes,  her 
countless  contradictions  and  variations  (see  "Edgar's 
Variations"),  is  a  faith  that  may  well  be  denominated 
sublime.  The  present  Pope  is  a  firm  believer  in  tran- 
substantiation,  but  Pope  Gelasius  I.  wrote  : —  "  The 
substance  of  the  bread  and  wine  ceases  not  to  exist." 
The  doctrine  of  purgatory  is,  with  all  true  Catholics 
of  the  present  day,  an  essential  part  of  that  perfect, 
unchanged  and  unchangeable  system.  But  this  doc- 
trine, little  more  than  four  hundred  years  old,  is  con- 
demned by  more  than  twenty  of  the  fathers,  including 


ARROGANCE.  107 

St.  Augustine,  Justin  Martyr,  Cyprian,  Tertullian, 
Ambrose,  the  two  Cyrils,  Chrysostom,  Athenasius,  and 
Jerome.  Not  always  was  Rome  so  unreflecting  as 
publicly  to  proclaim  her  damnable  avarice,  her  heart- 
lessness  and  inhumanity  in  allowing  the  souls  of  her 
"beloved  children"  to  lie  "broiling  in  the  fiercest 
flames"  till  a  few  coppers,  wrenched  from  her  poverty- 
stricken  victims,  drop  into  her  accursed  coffers.  Pio 
Nono,  and  all  intelligent  Papists,  it  is  fair  to  presume, 
agree  with  the  teachers  of  science,  as  to  the  diameter 
of  the  earth.  But  Pope  Gregory,  and  Bellarmine,  and 
Dr.  Rosaccio  placed  purgatory  at  the  earth's  centre, 
more  than  18,000  miles  below  the  surface.  They 
must  be  correct,  for  infallibility,  it  seems,  has  mea- 
sured it.  The  Inquisition  of  Rome,  in  1633,  guided  by 
the  Vicar  of  God,  infallible  Pope  Urban,  in  condemning 
Galileo,  affirmed  : —  "  The  proposition  that  the  earth 
moves  is  absurd,  jDhilosophically  false,  and  theologically 
considered,  at  least,  erroneous  in  faith."  As  infallibi- 
lity cannot  correct  itself,  in  what  a  dilemma  the  Papal 
world  finds  itself!  They  are  living  on  a  flat,  immovable 
planet,  the  centre  of  the  universe.  Similar  countless 
contradictions  and  variations  of  Popery  in  no  way 
stagger  the  faith  of  true  Romanists,  however.  The 
children  of  Holy  Mother,  evidently  believing  some 
things  because  they  are  absurd,  give  us  touches  of 
arrogance  that  are  truly  sublime.  Le  Pere  Lacordaire, 
the  noted  Dominican  preacher,  in  a  sermon  delivered 
not  long  since  in  Notre  Dame,  exclaims  : — 


108  ARROGANCE. 

"  Assuredly  the  desire  has  not  been  wanting  to  lay 
hold  of  us,  or  put  us  to  fault  against  immutability ;  for 
what  a  weighty  privilege  to  all  those  who  do  not  possess 
it :  a  doctrine  immutable  when  everything  upon  earth 
changes !  a  doctrine  which  men  hold  in  their  hands, 
which  poor  old  men  in  a  place  called  the  Vatican  guard 
under  the  key  of  this  cabinet,  and  which  without  any 
other  defence  resists  the  course  of  time,  the  dreams  of 
sages,  the  designs  of  kings,  the  fall  of  empires — always 
one,  constant,  identical  with  itself!  What  a  prodigy 
to  deny !     What  an  accusation  to  silence ! " 

A  little  farther  on  he  represents  the  Pope,  after  re- 
fusing the  demand  of  the  present  age  for  change,  and 
scorning  a  million  of  men  under  arms,  as  indignantly 
exclaiming,  when  offered  half  of  Cassar's  scej)tre  on  con- 
dition he  will  change  just  a  little  : 

"  Keep  thy  purple,  0  Caesar !  to-morrow  they  will 
bury  thee  in  it ;  and  we  will  chant  over  thee  the  Al- 
leluia and  the  De  Profundis,  which  never  change." 

Since  this  eloquent  bombast  was  penned,  Pio  Nono 
has  yielded  his  temporal  crown  to  a  few  shouting  Libe- 
rals. Yet  such  is  the  grandeur  of  Papal  arrogance  that, 
ignoring  changes,  the  Pope's  loyal  sons  shout :  "  '  Man's 
extremity  is  God's  opportunity.'  We  stand  by  now; 
and  wait  to  see  how  the  Lord  will  bring  safety  for  our 
Church  out  of  what,  humanly  considered,  is  a  desperate 
case.  But  let  the  enemy  take  note  of  our  confidence ! 
We  acknowledge  we  know  not  how,  but  we  are  sure  of 
a  deliverance.     We  do  not  know  what  the  Holy  Father 


ARROGANCE.  109 

will  do.  Perhaps  the  Holy  Father  does  not  know  what 
he  will  do  a  month  hence."  * 

So  the  boasted  immutability  has  been  shivered  to 
pieces  by  the  waywardness  of  the  Pope's  "poor  mis- 
guided slieep"  And  since  infallibility  is  unfortunately 
not  foreknowledge,  even  "Our  Lord  God  the  Pope" 
does  not  know  what  will  come  of  his  having  so  per- 
emptorily refused  the  half  of  Caesar's  crown,  offered  him 
by  the  vivid  imagination  of  "  the  great  Dominican^ 

The  Church  of  Rome  claims  the  exclusive  right  to 
interpret  Scriptures.  According  to  Popery,  individual 
believers  have  no  right  whatever  to  form  for  themselves 
opinions  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  Bible.  In  religious 
matters  they  have  no  right  to  think.  It  is  their  duty 
to  believe  and  to  obey.  It  is  the  exclusive  right  of  the 
sovereign  Pontiff  to  think  and  to  command.^  God  has 
indeed  given  all  men  reason  and  conscience,  but  they 
may  not  use  them  except  according  to  Papal  rule.  The 
Pope  gives  to  the  Word  of  God  all  the  authority  it  can 
possess !  Without  his  sanction  it  has  no  binding  force. 
He  can  abrogate  the  laws  of  the  Creator.  He  can  de- 
clare the  commands  of  Christ  of  no  effect.  If  God 
should  speak  in  an  audible  voice  from  heaven,  we  would 
not  be  required  to  obey  unless  the  Pope  endorsed  the 

*  Freemaii's  Journal^  Oct.  8,  1870. 

t  In  the  bull  of  Gregory  XYI.,  dated  May  8,  1844,  occur  these 
words:  "Watch  attentively  over  those  appointed  to  expound  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  that  they  dare  not,  under  any  pretext  whatever,  in- 
terpret or  explain  the  holy  pages  contrary  to  the  traditions  of  the 
Holy  Fathers,  or  to  the  service  of  the  Catholic  Church." 


110  ARROGANCE. 

command.  Nay,  the  case  is  even  worse.  For  the  spir- 
itual despot  in  the  eternal  city  has  actually  forbidden 
his  subjects  to  read,  or  even  possess,  the  will  of  heaven 
revealed  for  our  salvation.  The  bull  of  May  8th,  1844, 
contains  this  remarkable  prohibition  : 

''  Moreover,  we  confirm  and  renew  the  decrees  re- 
cited ABOYE,  DELIVERED  IN  FORMER  TIMES  BY  ApOSTOLIC 
AUTHORITY,  AGAINST  THE  PUBLICATION,  DISTRIBUTION, 
READING  AND  POSSESSION  OF  BOOKS  OF  THE  HoLY  SCRIP- 
TURES TRANSLATED  INTO  THE  VULGAR  TONGUE." 

Thus  an  erring  creature  presumes  to  tell  the  King 
of  heaven  that  he  may  not  make  known  his  Avill  to  his 
own  creatures.  Has  not  Romanism  "exalted  itself 
above  all  that  is  called  God  ?" 

In  entire  consistency  this  mystery  of  iniquity  has 
denounced  the  American  Bible  Society  as  "  a  most 
crafty  device,  shaking  the  foundations  of  religion,"  "  a 
pestilence,"  "  a  defilement  of  the  faith  most  eminently 
dangerous  to  souls."  Again  :  "  It  is  greatly  feared  that 
Bible  societies  will,  by  a  perverse  interpretation,  turn 
Christ's  Gospel  into  a  human  Gospel,  or,  what  is  worse 
still,  into  a  Gospel  of  the  devil."  In  a  letter  dated 
June  26  th,  1816,  and  addressed  to  the  Primate  of  Po- 
land, Pius  VII.  said:  ^^ It  is  evident,  from  ex-perience, 
that  the  Holy  Scriptures,  when  circulated  in  the  vulgar 
tongue,  have,  through  the  temerity  of  men,  produced  more 
harm  than  henefit.  Warn  the  jieople  intrusted  to  your 
care,  that  they  fall  not  into  the  snares  p)^'cj>a red  for  their 
everlasting  ruin."     In  the  nineteenth  century  language 


ARROGANCE.  HI 

such  as  this  falls  from  lips  claiming  superior  sanctity 
and  even  supernatural  guardianship  !  If  our  versions 
are  so  shockingly  dangerous,  and  that,  too,  when  simple 
translations  without  note  or  comment,  one  would  sup- 
pose they  would  mdustriously  circulate  a  translation 
of  their  own.  Instead  of  doing  so,  however,  this  pro- 
position, "  It  is  useful  and  necessary  to  study  the  Scrip- 
tures," one  of  the  Popes  branded  as  ''false,  shocking, 
scandalous,  seditious,  impious,  hlaspJiemousr  It  would 
seem  that  in  the  judgment  of  Rome  the  Bible  is  the 
most  dangerous  book  in  existence.  And  yet,  strange 
to  say,  this  immutable,  infallible  Church  has,  by  solemn 
decree,  granted  her  priests  the  privilege  of  selling  li- 
cences to  read  God's  Word.  Among  the  ten  rules  en- 
acted hy  the  Council  of  Trent  respecting  prohibited 
books,  we  find  this  : 

"It  is  referred  to  the  judgment  of  the  bishops,  or  in- 
quisitors, who  may,  by  the  advice  of  the  priest  or  con- 
fessor, PERMIT  THE  READING  OF  THE  BiBLE  TRANSLATED 
INTO  THE  VULGAR  TONGUE  BY  CATHOLIC  AUTHORS,  TO 
THOSE  PERSONS  WHOSE  FAITH  AND  PIETY,  THEY  APPRE- 
HEND, WILL  BE  AUGMENTED,  AND  NOT  INJURED  BY  IT  ;  AND 
THIS  PERMISSION  THEY  MUST  HAVE   IN  WRITING." 

Thus  God's  Vicegerent  tells  him  :  "  We  will  grant  our 
subjects  permission  to  read  your  message  of  life  if  they 
will  pay  us  for  the  privilege."  Standing  between  the 
Creator  and  the  creature,  the  Pope  says  to  the  former  : 
"You  may  not  speak  to  my  subjects j"  to  the  latter: 
"  You  may  not  receive  the  message  of  your  Maker,  un- 


112  ARROGANCE. 

less  you  have  the  means  of  purchasing  my  permission." 
And  even  this  presumption  is  sustained  by  Roman 
logic.  "  The  Pope  has  the  chief  power  of  disposing  of 
the  temporal  affairs  of  Christians,  in  order  to  their  spir- 
itual good."  Wealth  corrupts  men.  By  every  con- 
ceivable means,  therefore,  it  should  be  taken  from  them. 
Verily  we  are  prepared  to  read  this  claim  :  "  The  Pope 
has  power  above  all  powers  in  heaven  and  in  earth." 
"He,  as  God,  sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God,  showing 
himself  that  he  is  God." 

It  is  a  maxim  with  Popery  that  ignorance  is  the 
mother  of  devotion.  If  this  be  true — and  infallibility 
has  affirmed  it — the  devotion  of  the  mass  of  Papists 
must  be  the  deepest,  the  purest,  the  noblest,  and  the 
most  spiritual  the  erring  creatures  of  God  have  ever 
rendered  him.  And  hence  arises  a  reason,  all  powerful 
with  Romanists,  why  popular  education  should  be  op- 
posed. And  accordingly  they  are,  and  always  have 
been,  opposed  to  the  freedom  of  the  press,  to  the  gene- 
ral diffusion  of  knowledge,  to  the  progress  of  the  arts 
and  sciences.  Pope  Gregory,  in  his  bull  of  1832,  de- 
nounces liberty  of  opinion,  of  conscience,  and  of  the 
press,  as  "  absurd  and  erroneous  doctrines ;  pregnant 
with  the  most  deplorable  evils ;  and  pests  of  all  others 
most  to  be  dreaded  in  a  state."  And  those  who  pro- 
claim censures  such  as  these  irreconcilable  with  the 
rights  of  men,  are  charged  with  "  falsity,  rashness,  and 
infamous  effrontery."  Catholicism  is,  in  interest,  in 
principle,  and   in  policy,  the  uncompromising   foe  to 


ARROGANCE.  113 

modern  ideas  of  education.  What  Protestants  denomi- 
nate the  dark  ages  Romanism  calls  the  golden  age.  It 
disdains  the  civilization,  intelliirence,  and  sterling'  ac- 
tivitj  of  the  present,  and  were  the  power  hers,  no  doubt 
the  wheels  of  progress  would  be  turned  backwards  four 
or  five  centuries. 

The  Church  of  Rome  claims  ability  to  forgive  sins. 
Confession  being  made  and  the  money  demanded  handed 
over,  absolution  is  unconditionally  granted.  This  is 
their  claim.  And  in  accordance  therewith  is  their 
practice.  We  are  indeed  aware  of  the  afiirmation  of 
many,  that  the  priests,  in  granting  absolution,  merely 
declare,  that  to  the  penitent,  sin  is  remitted  by  God. 
We  affirm,  however,  that  the  Church  claims  the  inlie- 
rent  power  of  forgiving  sin.  One  of  the  anathemas  of 
the  Council  of  Trent,  certainly  no  mean  authority,  is  : 
"If  any  one  shall  say  that  the  sacramental  absolution 
of  the  priest  is  not  a  judicial  act,  but  a  naJced  ministry 
of  ^pronouncing  and  declaring  that  sins  are  remitted  to 
the  person  confessing,  provided  only  they  he  helievers  .... 
let  him  he  accursed^  Here  forgiveness  of  sin  is  claimed 
as  a  judicial  act  of  the  priest.  He  sits  in  Christ's  seat, 
granting  pardon.  And  against  each  and  every  apolo- 
gist, whether  Papal  or  Protestant,  who,  smoothing  down 
the  asperities  of  Popery,  would  reconcile  it  with  reason, 
Rome's  last  argument  is  fulminated,  ^^  anathema  sit" 

And  their  theological  works  contain  arguments  to 
prove  that  to  the  Pope  has  been  gi^-en  the  right  of 
granting  this  pardoning  power  to  every  priest.     Did 


114  ARROGANCE. 

not  Christ  say  to  Peter,  "  Whatsoever  thou  loosest  on 
earth  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven?"  Every  priest,  there- 
fore, holding  his  commission  from  Peter's  successor,  has 
ability  to  pardon  the  sinner.  And  why  not  ?  Is  there 
not  a  storehouse  of  good  works  ?  Has  not  the  Pope 
the  key?  May  he  not  disinterestedly  sell  the  merit  ac- 
cumulated from  the  obedience  of  the  faithful  above  all 
that  God  required  ?  Absolutions  are,  therefore,  only 
the  transfers  of  merit,  of  the  supererogatory  works  of 
Rome's  renowned  saints.  And  surely  he  who  can  make 
virtue  vice,  and  vice  virtue,  can  set  some  of  this  treasure 
to  the  account  of  the  sinner  who  proves  the  genuineness 
of  his  desire  for  it  by  paying  the  stipulated  price. 
Nay,  "  the  Mother  of  Harlots  "  can  do  more  than  forgive 
sins.  She  has  the  right  to  sell  indulgences.  And  every 
sin  has  its  price.  Did  space  permit,  it  would  furnish  a 
pitiable  exhibition  of  the  innate  depravity  of  man  to 
run  over  the  list  prepared  by  this  trafficker  in  human 
souls.  There  is  the  price  of  an  indulgence  to  "  murder 
one's  father,  mother,  brother,  sister,  wife,  or  other  rela- 
tive, one  dollar  and  seventy -five  cents;"  "for  theft, 
sacrilege,  rapine,  perjury,  two  dollars;"  "for  incest 
with  a  sister,  a  mother,  or  any  near  relative,  two  dol- 
lars and  a  quarter."  At  the  end  of  one  of  the  chapters 
in  this,  the  "  Pope's  Chancery  Book,"  it  is  said  :  "'  Note 
well :  Graces  and  dispensations  of  this  kind  are  not 
conceded  to  the  poor,  because  they  have  no  means, 
therefore  they  cannot  be  comforted.".  Poor  creatures ! 
Their  poverty  is  their  only  sin !     That  the  traffic  in 


ARROGANCE.  115 

these  indulgences  is  now  dull,  is  not  because  Rome  has 
willingly  abandoned  the  lucrative  business,  but  because 
the  light  of  the  Reformation  has  ruined  the  trade. 
Even  yet,  however,  they  are  purchasable  by  prayers, 
and  especially  by  the  repetition  of  Mary's  rosary. 
"  The  Catholic  Manual,"  a  collection  of  devotional  ex- 
ercises, promises  a  plenary  indulgence  on  each  of  the 
solemn  feasts  of  Christ  and  of  the  blessed  Virgin  Mary, 
to  those  who,  with  these  beads,  pray  devoutly  at  least 
once  a  week.  Whoever  repeats  a  Hail  Mary  in  the 
morning,  is  promised  "an  indulgence  of  a  hundred 
days,  each  day  of  the  week,  and  seven  years  and  seven 
times  forty  days  on  each  Sunday."  By  carefully  fol- 
lowing the  sixteen  instructions  on  indulgences  in  "  The 
Catholic  Manual,"  a  devout  Papist,  by  laboring  with 
the  machinery  of  devotion  about  four  hours  each  day 
for  five  years,  could,  we  think,  very  easily  purchase  a 
thousand  years'  unbridled  licence  in  sin.  About  one 
hundred  monks,  working  diligently,  could,  we  believe, 
lay  up  merit  adequate  to  pardon  the  entire  world  of 
sinners.  They  might  thus  open  a  new  spiritual  bank 
and  rival  the  Pope  in  making  merchandise  of  souls. 
Why,  therefore,  should  the  subjects  of  Pio  Nono  tremble 
with  apprehensions  of  the  torments  of  perdition  ?  The 
infallible  Church  has  granted,  and  therefore,  of  course, 
can  again  grant,  permission  to  commit  any  sin,  engag- 
ing to  extinguish  the  flames  of  hell.  None,  to  whom 
he  grants  a  claim  to  the  joys  of  the  redeemed,  can  be 
finally  lost.     None  can  enter  paradise  without  his  pass- 


IIG  ARROGANCE. 

port.  Did  not  Jesus  say  to  Peter,  "  I  will  give  unto 
thee  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ?"  These  keys 
have  been  handed  down  from  Peter  to  the  present 
Pope  !  Therefore,  "He  ojDeneth,  and  no  man  shutteth; 
and  shutteth,  and  no  man  openeth."  On  what  condi- 
tion will  he  open  heaven  to  the  soul  ?  When  the  dues 
to  the  Church  are  paid.    Did  ever  assumption  equal  this? 

Claiming  sovereignty  over  his  people  not  only  in  this 
world  but  also  in  the  world  to  come,  the  Pope  controls 
even  purgatorial  fires.  How  long  souls  are  kept  in  the 
purifying  flames  would  seem  to  depend  entirely  on  the 
willingness  of' living  friends  to  pay  money  for  the  cele- 
bration of  masses.  Archbishop  Hughes,  when  on  earth, 
was  lauded  as  one  of  the  holiest  of  men.  It  required, 
however,  a  long  time  to  pray  his  soul  out  of  purgatory. 
"  How  hardly  shall  they  that  have  riches  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven." 

Nor  does  Papal  presumption  stop  even  here.  In  the 
doctrine  of  the  real  presence,  according  to  which  in 
every  crumb  of  bread  and  in  every  drop  of  wine  Christ's 
entire  nature,  human  and  divine,  is  comprehended,  we 
have  arrogance  the  most  blasphemous  which  it  is  pos- 
sible to  conceive.  Christ,  in  his  undivided  humanity, 
is  present  in  heaven  and  on  the  countless  Popish  altars 
of  all  countries  and  all  ages,  entire,  perfect,  complete 
in  every  particle  of  the  consecrated  elements.  And 
yet,  lest  human  weakness  should  be  horrified  with  eat- 
ing flesh  and  drinking  blood,  the  form,  appearance, 
qualities,  and   taste   of  bread    and  wine   reifiain   un- 


ARROGANCE.  117 

changed.  And  this  self-contradictory  miracle,  the  most 
stupendous  ever  imposed  upon  human  credulity,  it  is 
affirmed,  is  daily  wrought  by  priestly  power.  A  learned 
Cardinal  says  :  ^'He  that  created  me  gave  me,  if  it  be 
lawful  to  tell,  to  create  himself.  "  And  Pope  Urban  af- 
firmed :  "  The  hands  of  the  pontiff  are  raised  to  an 
eminence  granted  to  none  of  the  angels,  of  creatixg 
God  the  Creator  of  all  things,  and  of  offering  him 
up  for  the  salvation  of  the  wdiole  world."  One  shudders 
as  he  reads  such  blasphemy.  And  to  find  in  the  Free- 
mans  Journal  of  Sept.  3,  1870,  such  language  as  this, 
"  How  many  prayers  have  they  (the  French  priests 
praying  for  unhappy  Napoleon  III.)  offered  even  tvith 
the  Most  Holy  in  their  hands,''  too  plainly  proves  that 
Popery  is  the  same  unchanged  monster  of  iniquity. 

Add  to  the  above  list  of  assumptions,  the  last  and 
greatest  of  all,  infallibility,  so  recently  exalted  into  a 
dogma,  and  you  have  all  that  it  would  seem  possible 
for  man  -to  claim ;  all  that  the  proudest  and  most  cruel 
tyrant  could  desire.  The  arrogance  is  complete;  the 
despotism  is  perfect.  The  Pope  has  the  right  to  en- 
slave the  body;  nay,  even  to  take  life,  to  bind  the  con- 
science, and  to  damn  the  soul.  And  in  the  exercise  of 
these  divine  prerogatives,  to  err  is  impossible.  These 
assumptions  the  faithful  are  not  only  expected  to  be- 
lieve with  the  wdiole  heart,  but  to  yield  unresisting 
obedience  to  the  tyranny  thence  resulting. 

"  I'd  rather  be  a  dog,  and  bay  the  moon, 
Than  such  a  Roman." 


CHAPTER     II. 

4 

INFALLIBILITY. 
(2  Thes.  ii.  4,  and  1  Tim.  iv.  2.) 

HE  year  1870  will  be  forever  memorable  in  the 
history  of  the  Papacy.  It  has  witnessed  the 
grotesquely  solemn  ascription  of  one  of  the  attri- 
butes of  deity  to  the  pretended  successor  of 
Peter.  "  Speaking  lies  in  hypocrisy,"  and  raving  in  a 
delirium  of  passion,  the  sovereign  pontiff  shouts : — 

"  I  am  the  Pope :  the  Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ ;  the  chief  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  and  I  have  called  this  Council,  which  shall  do 
His  work,  ....  I  say, — I,  who  can  not  but  speak  the  truth, 
— that  if  we  would  establish  liberty,  we  must  never  fear  to  speak 
the  truth,  and  to  denounce  error.  I  too  would  be  free  as  well  as 
the  truth  itself."  * 

"And  there  are  those  now  who  are  in  fear  of  the  world !  They 
fear  revolution !  ....  They  will  sacrifice  all  the  rights  of  the 
Holy  See,  and  their  love  for  the  Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ.  Miserable 
men,  what  must  they  do  ?  They  seek  the  applause  of  men.  We, 
my  children,  we  seek  the  approbation  of  God.  You  must  sustain 
the  claims  of  truth  and  righteousness.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  bishops 
fearlessly  to  fight  in  the  defence  of  truth  alongside  of  the  Vicar  of 
Jesus  Christ.     My  children,  do  not  forsake  me."  f 

*  Allocution,  Jan.  9th,  1870. 

t  From  the  Pope's  speech  to  the  Yicars  Apostolic,  March  23d,  1870. 

lis 


INFALLIBILITY.  119 

In  answer  to  this  pathetic  appeal  the  unterrified 
made  the  Vatican  ring  with  cries,  ''  No,  No,  No,  Vive 
rinfalUUe!  Vive  V Infallible!!  Vive  VlnfaUlble  ! ! !" 
At  the  public  reception,  May  14,  1870,  one  continuous  . 
deafening  shout  was  heard,  "  Long  live  the  Infallible.'" 
Was  Paul  picturing  this  scene  when  he  wrote,  '"  Who 
opposes  himself,  and  exalts  himself  against  all  that  is 
called  God,  and  against  all  worship :  even  to  seat  him- 
self in  the  temple  of  God,  and  take  on  himself  openly 
the  signs  of  Godhead  ? "  (Conybeare  and  Howson's 
Version.) 

Preparations  for  this  solemn  farce  were  made  even  so 
early  as  the  year  1864.  Then  was  issued  the  Encycli- 
cal and  Syllabus,  since  so  famous,  which  commend  most 
of  the  arrogant  assumptions  of  previous  Pontiffs,  and 
denounce,  in  no  measured  tenns,  the  civilization,  pro- 
gress, religion  and  education  of  the  present.  AVith 
characteristic  impudence  they  claim  for  the  Pope  the 
right  of  abrogating  civil  law,  of  enforcing  obedience  to 
Catholic  dogmas,  of  employing  corporal  punishment, 
and  even  of  compelling  princes  to  execute  civil  penalties 
for  ecclesiastical  offences.  They  insist,  in  language  not 
to  he  mistaken,  that  to  Holy  Mother  belongs  the  exclu- 
sive right  to  educate  the  young,  that  priests  are  not 
subject  to  civil  governments,  that  the  Pope  rules,  jure 
dlvino,  in  temporal  things,  that  the  right  to  solemnize 
marriage  is  the  exclusive  possession  of  the  priesthood, 
that  Catholicism  is  the  only  system  of  faith  entitled  to 
man's  suffrage,  and,  accordingly,  that  Protestant  worship 


120  INFALLIBILITY. 

ought  not  to  be  tolerated,  and  where  it  can  bo  sup- 
pressed, as  in  New  Granada  and  in  Rome,  must  he. 
Not  content  with  endorsing  Gregory's  condemnation  of 
liberty  of  conscience  as  an  insanity.  His  Infallibility 
denominates  it  the  liberty  of  perdition.  The  privilege 
of  embracing  that  religion  which,  led  by  the  light  of 
reason,  a  man  conscientiously  believes  to  be  right,  is 
repeatedly  and  emj)hatically  denied.  Even  the  will  of 
an  entire  nation,  though  calmly,  kindly  and  intelligently 
expressed,  can  by  no  possibility  constitute  law ;  cannot 
lawfully  demand  the  respect  of  Christ's  Vicar.  Having 
thus  condemned  all  liberty,  personal  and  national,  civil 
and  religious,  he  commits  himself  unqualifiedly  to 
despotism,  by  anathematizing  those  who  demand  that 
the  Roman  Pontiff  should  harmonize  himself  with  pro- 
gress and  modern  civilization,  and  by  denying  to  the 
do^vn-trodden  even  the  God-given  right  of  reljellion. 
Fitly  is  this  proud  tyranny  crowned  with  the  unblush- 
ing assertion,  that  the  judgments,  decisions,  dogmas  and 
practices  of  the  Church  are  infallible. 

Conceived  in  iniquity,  this  now  famous  dogma  was 
brought  forth  by  the  suppression  of  free  discussion. 
Protests  against  its  adoption,  though  respectfully  word- 
ed and  courteously  presented,  were  sent  back  without 
comment  or  communication,  and  in  some  instances  even 
unread.  Arguments  in  every  way  deserving  of  serious 
attention  obtained  no  answer.'"     The  German  j)relates, 

*  "  I  protest,"  said  Father  Tlyacinthe,  "  against  the  pretended  dog- 
ma of  the  Pope's  infallibility,  as  it  is  contained  in  the  decree  of  the 


INFALLIBILITY.  121 

in  a  carefully  prepared  protest,  said,  "  Unless  these  (the 
great  difficulties  arising  from  the  words  and  acts  of  the 
Fathers  of  the  Church,  as  contained  in  authentic  docu- 
ments of  Catholic  history)  can  be  resolved,  it  will  be 
impossible  to  impose  this  doctrine  upon  Christian  people 
as  being  a  revelation  from  heaven."  And  yet  far  from 
succeeding,  scarcely  an  effort  was  made  in  removing 
the  difficulties.  "All  reliiiion,"  said  Cardinal  Schwar- 
zenberg,  "  is  at  an  end  in  Bohemia  if  this  definition  is 
affirmed."  "  No  words,"  said  another  prelate,  "  can 
express  the  evils  which  will  accrue  to  the  cause  of  reli- 
gion throughout  Hungary,  if  infallibility  is  affirmed." 
These,  like  all  the  bishops  who  dared  to  anticipate 
social  and  political  evils  from  the  adoption  of  this  new 
dogma,  were  treated  as  disturbers  of  the  peace,  as  dis- 
loyal   to    Christ's   Vicar,    as    grossly  impertinent    and 

Council  of  Rome.  It  is  because  I  am  a  Catholic,  and  wish  to  remain 
such,  that  I  refuse  to  admit  as  binding  upon  the  faith  of  the  faithful 
a  doctrine  unknown  to  all  ecclesiastical  history,  which  is  disputed 
even  now  by  numerous  and  eminent  theologians,  and  which  implies 
not  a  regular  development,  but  a  gradual  change  in  the  constitution 
of  the  Church,  and  in  the  immutable  rule  of  its  faith.  It  is  because  I 
am  a  Christian  and  wish  to  remain  such,  that  I  protest  with  all  my 
soul  against  these  almost  divine  attributes  to  a  man  who  is  presented 
to  our  faith — I  was  about  to  say  to  our  worship — as  uniting  in  his  per- 
son both  the  domination  which  is  opposed  to  the  spirit  of  that  Gos- 
pel of  which  he  is  a  minister,  and  to  the  infallibility  which  is  repug- 
nant to  the  clay  from  which,  like  ourselves,  he  is  formed.  One  of  the 
most  illustrious  predecessors  of  Pius  IX.,  St.  Gregory  the  Great, 
rejected  as  a  sign  of  Antichrist  the  title  of  Universal  Bishop  which 
was  offered  to  him.  AVhat  would  he  have  said  to  the  title  of  Infallible 
routiff?" 


122  INFA  LLIBILITY. 

presumptuous.  A  corresjDoncIent  of  the  Liberie  gives  an 
account  of  a  strange  scene  between  the  Po^De  and  the 
Syrian  Patriarch  of  Babylon.  The  Patriarch,  who, 
before  leaving  for  Rome  had  taken  solemn  oath  to 
defend  the  liberties  of  the  Oriental  Churches,  said  in 
Council :  "  We  Orientals  reserve  our  rights,  which 
moreover  have  been  recognized  by  the  Council  of  Flor- 
ence." The  Pope,  irritated,  sent  for  him.  The  vener- 
able Prelate  immediately  rejDaired  to  the  Vatican.  The 
Pontiff,  pale  and  greatly  agitated,  presented  a  paper  by 
which  the  Patriarch  renounced  all  his  rights  and  privi- 
leges. "  Sign  that,"  said  Pius  IX.  "  I  cannot,"  replied 
the  Prelate.  The  Pope,  seized  with  one  of  his  violent 
fits  of  anger,  striking  his  hand  on  the  table,  exclaimed : 
'^  You  cannot  leave  without  signing  it."  The  Patriarch 
reminded  him  of  his  oath.  "  Your  oath  is  a  nullity, 
sign."  After  an  hour's  useless  struggle  the  Prelate  sub- 
mitted, appending  his  signature. 

Those  who,  with  irresistible  logic  demanded  unani- 
mity as  the  condition  of  promulgating  a  new  dogma, 
especially  one  so  important  and  far-reaching  in  its 
consequences,  were  insulted,  threatened  with  deposi- 
tion, and  in  the  end  forced  either  to  absent  themselves 
or  to  vote  infallibility.'^'  The  Pope,  as  in  the  preparar 
tions  for  the  Council,  so  in  its  proceedings,  assumed  to 

*  The  votes  were  as  follows  : — 

July  13th.  July  18th. 

Placet, 451  533 

Placet  juxta  modum, 62 

i^'on-placet, 88  2 


INFALLIBILITY.  123 

decide  the  gravest  questions.  He  ostentatiously  pro- 
claimed himself  as  by  divine  appointment  the  infallible 
head  of  the  Church.  By  lauding  and  honoring  the 
friends  of  infallibility,  and  insulting  and  denouncing 
their  opponents,  denominating  them  "bad  Catholics," 
he  showed  himself  the  worthy  head  of  the  order  of 
Jesuits.  Freedom  of  opinion  became  a  mere  name; 
discussion  only  a  pretence.  The  result  was  predeter- 
mined; known  when  the  Council  was  called.  The 
French  bishops,  in  a  manifesto  portraying  with  just 
indignation  the  successive  steps  taken  in  suppressing 
all  freedom,  affirm :  "  Debate  in  general  convocation 
has  been  a  mere  illusion  :  discussion  has  been  muzzled, 
and  free  speech  gagged.  Passion  is  dominating  more 
and  more :  old  traditions  and  usages  are  abandoned, 
just  claims  forgotten,  and  the,  most  elementary  rules 

set  at  nought A  good  cause  does  not  need 

to  be  supported  by  violence." 

By  such  agencies  as  these  an  assembly  of  bishops, 
who  according  to  ancient  Roman  law  had  no  right  to 
originate  dogma,  but  simply  to  express  in  formula  doc- 
trines which  had  ever  been  held  as  objects  of  universal 
belief,  promulgated  a  dogma  as  dishonoring  to  God  as 
it  is  insulting  to  man. 

And  the  arguments  by  which  this  monstrous  claim 
was  supported,  are,  like  those  by  which  St.  Liguori 
proves  Mary  a  proper  object  of  worship,  so  excessively 
weak  as  to  excite  contempt.  We  do  not  affirm  that 
those  who  employ  them  are  men  of  feeble  intellect. 


124  INFALLIBILITY. 

This,  in  many  instances,  is  certainly  not  the  case. 
But  men  of  powerful  minds,  when  thoroughly  com- 
mitted to  an  absurdity,  are,  of  course,  forced  to  bring 
forward  arguments  which  strike  every  unbiassed  lis- 
tener as  simply  ridiculous.  And  to  hear  mitred  bishops 
and  self-inflated  cardinals,  and  a  host  of  priests  repeat- 
edly and  solemnly  declaring  that  the  doctrine  of  infal- 
libility is  as  old  as  the  Christian  Church,  would  cer- 
tainly excite  universal  laughter,  were  not  the  conse- 
quences of  the  claim  so  appalling.  And  the  argument 
from  silence,  so  much  employed,  how  conclusive!  For 
ten  centuries  you  find  no  protest  against  it.  The 
fathers  never  mention  it.  They  present  no  labored 
arguments  in  its  favor.  The  councils  uttered  no 
anathemas  against  those  refusing  adhesion  to  it.  The 
Popes,  those  sacred  custodians  of  truth,  have  held  no 
allocutions  respecting  it,  have  issued  no  bulls  against 
those  who  questioned  it.  Therefore,  of  course,  it  must 
have  been  the  universal  faith  from  the  time  of  the  Apos- 
tles. Now,  however,  for  the  first  time,  some  damnable 
heretics  have  presumed  to  call  it  in  question.  It  is  on  this 
account  that  we  deem  it  necessary  to  proclaim  what  has 
ever  been  the  faith  of  those  constituting  the  Church. 
Why  this  argument  would  not  prove  that  two  and  two 
make  five  it  would  be  difficult  for  a  Protestant  to  con- 
ceive. But  Papists,  apparently,  deem  it  entirely  con- 
clusive. The  Rev.  James  Kent  Stone,  a  recent  convert 
to  Catholicism,  expands  it  to  great  length,  and  seem- 
ingly considers  it  unanswerable.  Surely  arguments 
must  be  scarce. 


INFALLIBILITY.  125 

Dr.  Henry  Newman,  another  champion  of  Romanism, 
in  his  "  Essay  in  Aid  of  a  Grammar  of  Assent,"  appeals 
to  common  sense  in  proof  of  infallibihty !  He  under- 
takes to  show  that  the  principles  of  assent  applied  to 
the  ordinary  affairs  of  life,  logically  lead  to  an  enforced 
belief  in  the  last  dogma  of  Rome.  We  have  the  same 
reasons  for  believing  that  the  Pope  is  infallible  that  we 
have  for  believing  that  Napoleon  III.  is  a  prisoner,  viz., 
a  great  many  people  say  so.  AVe  Protestants,  upstarts 
of  three  centuries,  ought  to  have  the  modesty  to  confess 
ourselves  unable  to  see  the  force  in  metaphysical  dis- 
quisitions so  abstruse. 

Then  there  is  the  Scriptural  argument  so  laboriously 
drawn  out  in  the  London  Vatican  of  July  29th,  1870  : 
"Did  not  Christ  say:  'Thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this 
rock  I  will  build  my  church?'  (We  fancy  we  have 
heard  that  quoted  before  by  Papists.)  Even  this, 
however,  was  not  enough  for  the  Most  High  to  say  to 
the  first  primate.  Hence  he  adds,  '  And  the  gates  of 
hell  shall  never  prevail  against  it.'  Not  enough  3'et. 
The  sovereign  Pope  must  reign  in  both  worlds  at 
once.  *  I  will  give  unto  thee  the  keys  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.'  Not  sufficient  still.  'And  whatsoever 
thou  shalt  bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven,  and 
whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in 
heaven.'  Then,  moreover,  Jesus  said  to  Peter,  not  to 
John  (the  records  must  needs  be  amended,  so  the  facts 
of  Peter's  fall,  denial  and  profanity  are  cautiously  and 
very  considerately  suppressed) :     '  I   have  prayed  for 


126  INFALLIBILITY. 

thee  that  thy  faith  fail  not.'  God's  Vicar  could  not 
err,  because  his  fall  would  have  been  the  ruin  of  the 
Church."  (The  sacred  record,  you  see,  must  be  incor- 
rect. Peter  must  have  remained  firm,  for  the  Church 
has  been  infallible  ever .  since.  This  passage  must  be 
like  that  other,  which  speaks  of  Peter's  wife's  mother, 
w^hereas  Peter  could  by  no  possibility  have  been  guilty 
of  having  a  wife,  since  all  his  successors,  following  his 
illustrious  example,  vow  celibacy.)  Then  follows  the 
admonition  addressed  to  the  first  pontifi",  and  through 
him  to  the  long  succession  of  Holy  Fathers,  "  Confirm 
thy  brethren."  So  you  see,  or  don't  you  see? — the  Pope 
is  infallible.  Can't  you  say  with  "  the  greatest  theo- 
logian of  the  age,"  "  There  is  hardly  a  doctrine  of 
Christianity  which  is  so  conspicuously  vouched  in  Holy 
Scripture,  or  which  its  divine  author  thought  proper 
to  reveal  by  such  an  astonishing  iteration  of  words  and 
acts,  as  that  of  the  primacy  and  inerrancy  of  his  Vicar  ?" 
This  famous  passage  which  does  battle  everywhere, 
which  proves  that  priests  can  forgive  sins,  that  the 
Pope  can  send  a  man  to  hell,  to  heaven,  or  to  jourga- 
tory,  that  Peter  was  primate,  that  the  Catholic  Church 
is  as  unchangeable  as  a  rock,  that  no  man  can  be  saved 
unless  within  its  sinless  pale,  that  Popery,  in  the  exact 
form  in  which  it  now  exists,  shall  continue  till  the 
Church  militant  becomes  the  Church  triumphant,  that 
corporal  punishment  for  spiritual  offences  is  heaven- 
ordained,  and  that  Peter  never  fell,  also,  according  to 
Papal    logic,  incontestably,  unmistakably,   irresistibly 


INFALLIBILITY.  127 

proves  that  Pio  Nouo,  in  this  nineteenth  century,  is 
infallible. 

Lastly,  we  have  the  argument  of  the  bishop  of  Poitiers, 
which  elicited  such  applause  in  the  Vatican  Council : — 
^'  St.  Paul  was  beheaded ;  consequently  his  head,  which 
represents  the  ordinary  episcopate,  was  not  indissolubly 
united  to  the  body.  St.  Peter,  on  the  contrary,  was 
crucified  with  his  head  downAvards,  to  show  that  his 
head,  which  was  the  image  of  the  Papacy,  sustained 
the  whole  body."  So  you  perceive  the  present  Pope 
must  be  infallible.  He  says  so.  And  how  otherwise 
could  he  sustain  the  entire  Church? — how  be  a  Rock? 

Proved,  to  the  satisfaction  of  Papists  by  arguments 
such  as  these,  infallibility  was,  July  18th,  1870,  ex- 
alted into  a  dogma.  The  entire  Catholic  world  must 
henceforth  believe,  on  pain  of  eternal  damnation,  "that 
when  the  Roman  pontiff  speaks  ex  cathedra  ....  he 

possesses infallibility.*     In   interpretation  of 

this  the  New  York  Freeman  s  Journal  and  Catholic 
Register,  of  September  3d,  1870,  says :  "  In  his  personal 
character  as  Pope,  without  awaiting  the  agreement  of 
the  Catholic  Episcopate,  the  Pope  is  infallible  personally. 
The  expression  personal  infallihUity  of  the  Poj^e  is  there- 
fore correct." 

So  the  famous  and  long-continued  discussion,  where 
resides  the  infallibility  of  the  Church — in  the  Pope,  in 
a  General  Council,  or  in  the  concurrent  voice  of  both? — . 

*  Dogmatic  Decree  on  the  Church  of  Christ,  chap.  iv. 


128  INFALLIBILITY. 

is  at  last  ended.  No  second  Dean  Swift  need  taunt- 
ingly say,  "  Really,  Holy  Mother  might  as  well  be  with- 
out an  infallible  head,  as  not  to  know  where  to  find 
him  in  necessity."  Five  hundred  and  thirty-three  robed 
bishops  have  solemnly  proclaimed  that  he  lives  in  Rome, 
or  did,  and  is  the  legitimate  successor  of  the  fallible 
Peter.  He  eats  bread,  drinks  wine,  rides  out  daily  in 
his  coach,  twirls  his  finger  in  an  ecstasy  of  delight  as 
he  pronounces  benedictions  on  those  who  shout,  "  Vive 
rinfallible,"  and  scowls  with  rage  as  he  utters  anathe- 
mas against  the  Protestant  failure. 

As  this  last  and  most  insolent  dogma  of  Popery  has 
been  established  without  argument,  or  rather  in  spite 
of  argument,  it  certainly  were  folly  for  Protestants  to 
dignify  it  by  attempting  a  formal  refutation.  To  argue 
a  shouting  crowd  into  silence  is  impossible.  And  a 
cloud,  dense,  dark,  impalpable,  portending  storm,  is  not 
dissolved  by  man's  howling  out  a  few  syllogisms.  Many 
an  error  has  been  argued  into  respectabiUty  by  its  op- 
ponents. For  some  absurdities  no  argument  is  more 
powerful  than  ridicule ;  for  some  pretensions  no  treat- 
ment so  galling  as  silent  contempt.  And  Protestants 
can  certainly  w^ell  afford  to  let  bishops,  priests,  and 
people  tell  each  other  that  they  believe,  or  make  be- 
lieve, Pio  Nono  is  infallible.  If,  however,  any  desire 
to  examine  a  complete  demolition  of  Rome's  last  arro- 
gant claim,  we  commend  to  their  careful  perusal,  "  The 
Pope  and  the  Council,"  by  Janus.  This  work,  origi- 
nating in  the  bosom  of  the  Papal  Church,  written  by 


IN  FA  LL  IB  I  LIT  Y.  129 

persons  claiming  to  be  genuine  Catholics,  and  proving 
with  inexorable  logic  that  the  doctrine  of  infallibility  is 
a  mere  novfeltj  in  the  religious  world,  has  caused  much 
uneasiness  even  in  the  seared  conscience  of  the  Papal 
Church,  and  called  forth  a  vast  amount  of  fruitless 
effort  at  refutation.  We  have  seldom  seen  such  piti- 
able exhibitions  of  the  inherent  weakness  of  a  cause  as 
may  be  seen  in  the  absurdly  feeble  attempts  to  answer 
Janus.  The  CatJiolic  World  of  New  York  (June, 
July,  and  August  numbers,  1870),  contains  articles 
which,  for  feebleness  and  clumsy  special  pleading,  are, 
we  firmly  believe,  entitled  to  the  first  place  in  the  lit- 
erature of  the  last  half  century.  Every  unprejudiced 
reader  must  certainly  rise  from  their  perusal  thoroughly 
convinced  that  the  reception  of  the  infallibility  dogma 
is  purely  an  act  of  faith.  If  that  is  Rome's  best  show- 
ing, her  proud  claim  evidently  rests  exclusively  on 
bold  and  oft-repeated  assertion  and  specious  false- 
hood. 

Since  at  last  we  have  an  infallible  man,  we  ought  to 
know  how  his  decrees  are  to  be  transmitted  to  us  fuUi- 
bles.  He  is  accessible  only  to  a  limited  few.  How  can 
he  make  every  child  of  Holy  Mother  infallibly  certain 
what  the  truth  is  ?  Are  all  archbishops  and  bishops 
and  priests  to  be  next  (teclared  infallible  ?  Are  we  to 
have  a  set  of  infallible  telegraph  operators,  and  infalli- 
ble printers,  who  shall  inform  prelates  and  bishops,  who 
in  turn  shall  peddle  out  infallibility's  last  announce- 
.ment  to  every  loyal  Papist?     And  unless  this  is  done. 


130  INFALLIBILITY. 

of  what  use  is  an  infallible  head?*  Must  the  faithful 
take  an  infallible  system  on  the  testimony  of  fallibles  ? 
Are  they  required  to  believe  by  proxy  ?  The  Pope 
says,  ''All  must  believe  what  I  believe,  because  I  believe 
what  all  believe."  Then  every  Romanist,  it  is  to  be 
presumed,  believes  everything  contained  in  "  the  whole 
Word  of  God,  written  and  unwritten."  This  requires 
belief  in  at  least  one  hundred  and  fifty  folio  volumes,  a 
cart-load  of  contradictory  doctrines  and  clashing  tradi- 
tions. If  employing  private  judgment,  the  layman 
conscientiously  endeavors  to  eliminate  truth  from  this 
mass  of  useless  rubbish,  he  is  guilty  of  a  damnable 
heresy.  And  how  is  he  to  know  with  infallible  cer- 
tainty what  is  the  interpretation  of  Pius  IX.  ?  Must 
he  go  to  Rome  ?  Must  he  await  the  next  (Ecumenical 
Council  which  shall  decree  Papal  transmission  infalli- 
ble ?  Or  must  he  content  himself  with  this  circular 
argument?  I  believe  what  the  Pope  believes.  The 
Pope  believes  what  I  believe.  "We  both  believe  exactly 
the  same.  He  and  I  are  therefore  infallible.  And  if 
Jig  is,  surely  /  micst  he.  An  unerring  head  and  an  err- 
ing body  and  members,  were  a  kind  of  nondescript,  a 
monster  known  neither  in  heaven,  on  earth,  nor  in 
hell. 

This  marvellous  prerogative,^  it  is  now  claimed,  has 
always  belonged  to  the  successor  of  Peter.  Has  it  ever 
decided   a  single  controversy? — ever  healed  a  single 

•^  The  absence  of  a  comma  in  one  of  the  recent  Decrees  came  near 
makinjT  the  entire  Catholic  world  believe  a  falsehood. 


INFALLIBILITY.  131 

dissension? — ever  settled  a  single  quarrel  either  in 
private,  in  social  or  in  national  life  ?  In  this  intensely 
practical  age  men  therefore  ask,  what  good  is  to  result 
from  this  dogma  ?  The  fiercely  bitter  strifes  between 
the  Calvinistic  Jansenists  and  the  Arminian  Jesuits, 
between  the  Franciscans  and  the  Dominicans  touching 
the  kind  of  homage  due  the  transubstantiated  wafer, 
between  the  advocates  and  the  opponents  of  the  Im- 
maculate Conception  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  were  they, 
even  in  the  slightest  degree,  alleviated  or  repressed  by 
Christ's  infallible  Vicar  ?  And  of  what  value  was  the 
inerrancy  of  Pope  Liberius  who  embraced  the  Arian 
heresy?  An  infallible  primate  endorsing  a  doctrine 
which  had  already  been  repeatedly  and  emphatically 
anathematized,  and  by  the  present  "  Infallible  Judge  in 
faith  and  morals"  is  deemed  no  less  heinous  than  infi- 
delity itself,  is  surely  a  strange  proof  of  indefectibility. 
And  of  what  value  was  this  boasted  prerogative  to 
Pope  Honorius,  that  old  transgressor,  whose  doctrinal 
errors  cost  the  last  (Ecumenical  Council  such  an  im- 
mense amount  of  arguing  and  falsifying  ?  Being  unani- 
mously condemned  by  the  sixth  General  Council  for 
holding  doctrines  then,  since,  and  now  considered  here- 
tical, the  advocates  of  Papal  infallibility  are  placed  in 
the  awkward  dilemma  of  being  forced  to  believe  that 
exact  contraries  are  precisely  the  same.  Benediction 
and  anathema,  assertion  and  denial,  truth  and  error, 
are  one  and  the  same  thing  to  those  who  can  legislate 
vice  into  virtue  and  virtue  into  vice.     Of  what  practical 


132  INFALLIBILITY. 

worth  is  that  infallibility  which  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  "  desirous  of  providing  against  increased  detri- 
ment to  the  holy  faith,"  solemnly  affirmed  :  "  The  pro- 
position that  the  earth  moves  is  absurd,  philosophically 
false,  and  theologically  considered  at  least,  erroneous  in 
faith;"  and  in  this  nineteenth  century,  not  merely 
believes  the  Copernican  system,  but  with  brazen-faced 
effrontery  endeavors  to  deny  that  Galileo  suffered  per- 
secution for  opinion's  sake  ?  And  then,  too,  unless  His 
Infallibility  can  reconcile  the  two  thousand  variations 
between  the  authorized  Vulgate  Bible  of  Pope  Sextus, 
the  infallible,  and  that  of  Pope  Clement,  the  infallible, 
the  unbelieving  world  will  continue  to  smile  at  the 
deliverance  of  the  invincible  five  hundred.* 

Let  Rome's  arguments  and  anathemas  therefore  be 
never  so  powerful,  an  infallibility  which  suspends  civil 
law,  spreads  rebellion  and  celebrates  a  Te  Deum  for 
the  massacre  of  heretics ;  which  corrupts  the  doctrines 
of  the  Bible,  opposes  popular  education,  and  hangs  on 
the  skirts  of  progress  shouting  halt;  which  inveighs 
against  the  civilization  of  the  present,  stops  commerce, 
fetters  science,  enslaves  the  mind,  impoverishes  the 
nations,  and  mingles  even  with  her  prayers  curses 
against  civil  and  religious  liberty,  is  a  dogma  which 
this  age  at  least  can  contemplate  only  with  mingled 
horror  and  derision.     Were  it  less  ridiculous  we  might 

*  Says  Dr.  John,  an  eminent  Komanist,  "The  more  learned 
Catholics  have  never  denied  the  existence  of  errors  in  the  Vulgate  ;  on 
the  contrary,  Isidore  Clarius  collected  80,000." 


INFALLIBILITY.  133 

almost  weep  tears  of  blood  over  the  spiritual  thraldom 
of  one  hundred  and  eighty  millions  of  human  beings 
henceforth  forced,  on  pain  of  excommunication,  refusal 
of  the  sacraments  and  everlasting  damnation,  to  believe 
an  erring  mortal  "infallible  judge  in  faith  and  morals," 
Christ's  inerrant  Vicar.  Were  it  less  fatal  to  the  free- 
dom, the  morals,  and  the  eternal  hopes  of  enslaved 
Papists  we  might  give  way  to  uproarious  laughter,  and 
shame  the  absurdity  off  the  world's  stage.  We  can 
view  it  however  only  as  a  declaration  of  war  against 
civilization ;  only  as  a  death  knell  to  the  hopes  of  those 
who  are  subject  to  the  Roman  priesthood.  Henceforth 
Popery  is  to  be  narrower,  more  bigoted,  more  impene- 
trable to  ttuth  than  ever.  While  the  Protestant  world 
is  advancing  in  literty,  intelligence,  morality  and 
material  prosperity,  the  Papal  seems  destined  to  stagna- 
tion, if  not,  alas,  to  even  grosser  superstition,  deeper 
ignorance  and  more  abject  spiritual  servitude. 

What  results  may  flow  from  this  last  arrogant  as- 
sumption of  Rome's  proud  Pontiff,  it  is  jet  too  soon  to 
predict.  The  struggle  of  the  last  three  centuries — a 
struggle  between  intelligence  and  superstition,  between 
progress  and  reaction,  between  light  and  darkness,  be- 
tween all  that  makes  this  age  hopeful  and  made  the 
middle  ages  the  world's  midnight — has  ended,  ended  in 
the  triumph  of  bigotry.  In  this  we  may,  perhaps,  dis- 
cover the  beginning  of  the  end.  Certainly  Catholic 
aggression  in  civilized  countries  is  henceforth  impossible. 
The  absurdity  is  too  apparent  to  impose  upon  even 
common  intelligence. 


134  INFALLIBILITY. 

Infallible  but  powerless  !  French  troops  withdrawn, 
Napoleon  dethroned,  Catholic  France  beaten  and  help- 
less, the  Pope's  temporal  power  gone,  his  erring  sheep 
following  the  guidance  of  liberal  ideas,  himself,  though 
claiming  to  be  Supreme  Judge  over  all  kings,  virtually 
a  prisoner,  bishops  in  scores  denouncing  the  infallibility 
blunder,*  the  entire  Catholic  world  in  momentary  ap- 
prehension of  yet  more  terrible  calamities,  surely  we  are 
powerfully  reminded  of  that  ancient  and  honorable  de- 
claration, "  In  one  hour  is  she  made  desolate."  What 
wonders  has  God  wrought !  How  suddenly  have  her 
woes  come  upon  her !  f  "  This  is  the  Lord's  doing,  and 
it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes." 

And  now  from  all  ji^rts  of  the  Catholic  world  may 
be  heard  one  long  drawn  sigh  over  Popery's  helpless 
condition,  one  deep  wail  of  terror,  harmonized  from  the 

*  Bishop  Hefel^,  of  Rotteuberg,  with  his  eutire  chapter  aud  the 
theological  faculty  of  Tubingen,  have  determined  to  persevere  in  the 
opposition  to  the  Vatican  Council,  come  what  may.  Lord  Acton 
says  :  "  The  Vatican  Council  has  pronounced  its  own  condemnation. 
Some  of  the  most  distinguished  of  the  prelates  characterized  it  as  a 
'conspiracy  against  Divine  truth  and  right,'  'a  disgrace  for  all 
Catholics.'" 
1 1870.  July  14,  Infallibility  proclaimed,  Protestantism  condemned. 
July  15.  AVar  declared  by  Napoleon  III.  against  Protestant 

Prussia. 
Sept.    1.  The   oldest  son  of  Holy  Mother   captured   by  a  ' 

heretic. 
Sept.  20.  The  Pope  and  Rome  captured  by  an  excommuni- 
cated king. 
Oct.    2.  The  Roman  people's  love  for  the  Pope  expressed 
by  40,805  negatives  against  46  affirmatives. 


INFALLIBILITY.  135 

cry  of  the  impotent  infallible,  the  half  frantic  whinings 
of  bishops  and  priests^  and  the  evil  forebodings  of  pam- 
phlets, magazines,  periodicals,  and  papers.  Plainly, 
whatever  results  were  fondly  anticipated  from  the  con- 
summation of  the  work  for  which  the  Council  was  sum- 
moned. Holy  Mother  deems  herself  in  dreadful  agonies. 
Says  the  Tablet,  a  Roman  organ,  "  There  is,  alas,  no 
room  for  doubt  that  a  heavy  calamity  has  befallen  the 
Holy  Church  of  Rome  and  the  Apostolic  See.  The  in- 
fidels have  converted  and  educated  the  bad  Catholics 
up  to  the  reception  of  certain  opinions  and  principles 
of  their  own."  So  even  Romanists  will  think  for  them- 
selves, notwithstanding  there  is  an  infallible  PojDe  to 
think  for  them.  And  even  now,  after  all  their  efforts, 
Ital}^  is  tainted  to  the  very  core  with  love  of  liberty; 
private  judgment  is  even  now  untrammelled.  The  ven- 
geance sworn  against  Republicanism,  were  it  not  so  im- 
potent, might  strike  terror.  It  is  evidently,  however, 
only  the  wail  of  despair. 

A  cloud,  portentous,  though  small,  may  be  seen  on 
the  horizon.  An  ominous  increase  in  the  number  of 
Jesuits,  those  unprincipled  political  tricksters,  has  taken 
place.  In  Germany,  France,  England,  and  even  in  the 
United  States,  the  Catholic  papers  are  sounding  "a  call 
for  a  new  Crusade"  "With  this  as  their  watchword, 
'•'Piome  helongs  to  tlie  Catholic  Church,'''  they  are  seeking 
to  fire  the  hearts  of  the  young.  Already  we  learn  on 
Papal  authority,  that  "  The  Catholic  youth  of  Europe 
are  stirring,  and  preparing  for  the  conflict.     In  our  own 


136  INFALLIBILITY. 

land  thousands  of  hearts,  of  young  Catholic  men,  are 
burning  with  desire  to  add  their  part  to  the  Grand 
Crusade."     In  New  Orleans  an  immense  mass  meetinsr 

o 

has  been  held,  and  that  too  on  Sunday,  in  utter  dis- 
regard of  the  rights  of  Protestants  and  the  laws  of  the 
country,  to  express  sympathy  with  and  secure  material 
aid  for  the  "  Infallible  Judge  in  faith  and  morals."  All 
this  may,  most  likely  will,  end  in  smoke.  Possibly, 
however,  they  may  be  so  infatuated  as  to  continue 
their  repinings  over  the  terrible  fate  of  Christ's  Vicar, 
perhaps  may  inaugurate  agencies  for  his  restoration, 
possibly  may  "  take  up  arms  against  a  sea  of  troubles," 
and  thereby  hasten  the  end.  The  old  Romans,  whose 
Pagan  religion  these  modern  heathen  have  inherited, 
had  an  adage  containing  a  mine  of  good  sense,  "  Whom 
the  gods  design  to  destroy  they  first  make  mad."  Are 
we  witnessing  the  infatuation  which  precedes  destruc- 
tion ?  * 

*  ""We  call  for  a  Crusade  of  the  whole  of  Christendom,  to  put  him 

(the  Pope)  on  his  throne Neither  the  '  King  of  the  mon- 

kej'S  '  (Victor  Emmanuel),  or  any  other  being,  should  hold  as  a  subject 
the  Pope  that  is  head  of  our  Church."  "At  this  moment  St.  Peter  is 
in  chains,  in  the  person  of  his  successor." — Freeman'' s  Journal  and 
Catholic  Begister,  Nov.  19,  1870. 


CHAPTER     III. 

DESPOTISM. 
(2  Thess.  ii.  9.) 

[  0  political  tyrant,  no  despotic  Nero,  even  in  his 
most  frenzied  mood,  ever  arrogated  claims  over 
man  so  cruelly  tyrannical  as  those  of  Popery. 
Despots  have  indeed  tortured  the  body  till  death 
granted  release;  but  to  tyrannize  over  the  mind,  to 
traffic  in  the  eternal  destinies  of  the  soul,  to  trample  at 
will  upon  man's  dearest  hopes,  those  that  stretch  be- 
yond this  troubled  life^  are  abominations  known  only 
to  Romanism.  The  only  usurpations  worthy  of  com- 
parison with  hers  are  the  monstrous  assumptions  of 
Brahminism.  And  even  these,  though  having  the 
same  parentage,  and  manifesting  similar  dispositions, 
sink  into  insignificance  w^hen  compared  with  those  of 
that  mystery  of  iniquity  whose  coming,  it  was  pre- 
dicted, should  be  "with  all  power T 

To  render  the  spiritual  control  complete,  the  Papal 
Church  has  made  her  seven  sacraments  so  many  in- 
struments of  despotism.  These,  in  connection  with 
h-er  doctrine  of  iNTENTioisr,  form  a  power  of  oppression 
truly  appalling.  In  the  decree  of  the  Council  of  Trent 
we  read :  "  If  any  one  shall  affirm,  that  when  the  min- 

137 


138  DESPOTISM. 

ister  performs  and  confers  a  sacrament,  it  is  not  neces- 
sary that  they  should,  at  least,  have  the  intention  to  do 
what  the  Church  does,  let  him  be  accursed."  Could 
anything,  we  ask,  place  the  Romanist  more  completely 
under  the  power  of  the  priest?  Through  him  must 
come  all  spiritual  blessings.  Here  centre  all  hopes. 
In  administering  the  ordinances  of  the  church,  how- 
ever, the  officiating  priest  may,  through  negligence,  or 
to  gratify  personal  resentment,  or  with  the  diabolical 
purpose  of  leaving  the  suppliant  unblessed,  withhold 
the  intention,  giving  the  form  without  the  substance. 
Thus  the  poor  penitent  is  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  his 
spiritual  despot. 

The  faithful  are  taught  that  marvellous  grace  comes 
through  eating  the  bread  transubstantiated  by  the 
prayer  of  the  priest  into  the  very  body  of  Christ. 
Suppose,  however,  that  when  the  words  are  pronounced, 
"  This  is  my  body,"  the  celebrant  has  in  reality  no 
intention  of  changing  the  wafer  to  flesh.  Then  the 
worshipper,  ignorant  of  the  secret  purpose  of  the  min- 
ister's heart,  but  required  by  a  Church  claiming  infal- 
libility to  believe  that  the  visible  wafer  "  is  the  body 
and  blood,  soul  and  divinity,  of  Christ,"  is  not  merely 
guilty  of  believing  a  falsehood,  but  of  the  grossest  idol- 
atry— the  worship  of  flour  and  water.  On  pain  of 
eternal  damnation,  he  is  ordered  to  believe  an  absurd- 
ity, and  to  bow  in  adoration  before  what  he  cannot 
know  to  be  a  God ;  nay,  what  reason  and  the  senses 
testify  is  bread.     If,  trusting  these,  he  refuses  homage, 


DESPOTISM.  139 

lie  is  threatened  by  a  Church,  claiming  to  possess  the 
keys  of  heaven  and  hell,  with  the  endless  torments  of 
perdition.  If  he  adores  the  host,  then,  on  the  conces- 
sion of  Rome  herself,  he  may  be  guilty  of  worshipping 
the  creature,  a  sin  for  Avhich,  according  to  the  Papal 
Church,  there  is  no  forgiveness.  If  he  follows  common 
sense,  Rome  thunders  her  anathemas  against  him.  If 
he  obeys  the  Church,  he  may  be  rendering  his  damna- 
tion doubly  more  certain.  Did  ever  desjDotism  equal 
this?  Etei-nal  happiness  is  suspended  on  the  mere 
whim  of  a  priest,  and  he,  perhaps  a  revengeful,  licen- 
tious, drunken  wretch. 

Take  the  sacrament  of  baptism.  In  the  "Abridgment 
of  Christian  Doctrine,"  it  is  asked,  "  Whither  go  the 
souls  of  infants  that  die  without  baptism?  Answer.  To 
that  part  of  hell  wdiere  they  suffer  the  pains  of  loss, 
but  not  the  punishment  of  sense;  and  shall  never  see 
the  face  of  God."  Tearfully,  almost  in  hopeless  despair, 
may  the  loyal  Papist  ask,  as  he  kisses  the  pallid  lips  of 
the  coffined  babe.  Do  any  reach  the  joys  of  the  re- 
deemed? The  sweet  whisperings  of  a  hope  natural  to 
the  parental  heart  are  silenced  by  the  stern  voice  of 
Holy  Mother,  "  Unhaptlzed,  unsaved."  How  many 
chances  against  the  innocents !  The  parents  neglect 
their  duty  :  the  babe  is  lost.  It  is  brought  to  the  priest 
and  its  brow  sprinkled  with  water.  Through  careless- 
ness or  fiendish  malignity,  however,  the  intention  is 
wanting.  The  helpless  inflmt  is  eternally  exiled  from 
God.     Perhaps  the  priest  himself  was  never  baptized ; 


140  DESPOTISM. 

or  if  baptized,  perhaps  never  ordained.  Ttiougli  these 
ordinances  may  have  been  administered,  the  intention 
may  have  been  wanting.  In  either  case  tlie  child  is 
doomed  to  endless  woe.  Nor  is  this  a  mere  fancied 
difficulty.  No  genuine  Romanist  can  by  possibility 
possess  satisfactory  evidence  that  either  he  himself  or 
his  child  is  validly  baptized.  And  yet  he  is  taught  to 
believe  that  without  this  baptismal  regeneration  salva- 
tion is  impossible.  The  legitimate  result  of  such  teach- 
ing is  to  produce  a  race  of  the  most  abject  slaves, 
crouching,  spiritless. 

The  dying  Papist,  as  he  receives  penance  and  ex- 
treme unction,  feels  in  his  inmost  soul  that  all  his 
hopes  for  time  and  eternity  are  suspended  on  the  in- 
tention of  the  priest,  who,  '•'  sitting  in  the  tribunal  of 
penance,  represents  the  character  and  discharges  the 
functions  of  Jesus  Christ."  "="  To  heaven,  to  hell,  or  to 
purgatory,  as  best  suits  his  fancy,  he  can  send  the  de- 
parting spirit.  However  deep  may  have  been  its 
guilt,  however  black  its  crimes,  however  polluted  its 
thoughts,  the  priest  ''  can  confer  clying  grace,'''  and 
^^  open  the  gates  of  paradise:''  he  can  send  the  most 
devout  Romanist  to  endless  despair,  eternally  beyond 
the  reach  of  hope.  Yf  as  ever  another  system  devised, 
even  in  the  hotbed  of  Pagan  superstition,  so  perfectly 
fitted  to  crush  its  victims?  What  could  produce 
slavery  more  abject,  of  reason,  will,  soul  and  body? 
All  the  efibrts  of  the  poor  vassal  must  be  directed  to- 

*  "Trent  Catechism,"  p.  2C0. 


DESPOTISM.  141 

wards  propitiating  the  priest,  who  henceforth  stands  to 
him  in  the  place  of  a  god. 

Two  youthful  hearts,  innocent  and  pure,  present 
themselves  in  the  first  fervor  of  new-born  love,  to  be 
united  in  the  bonds  of  holy  matrimony.  Hope  paints 
a  radiant  future.  They  are  pronounced  husband  and 
wife.  If  intelligent  Catholics,  however,  and  earnestly 
desirous  of  true  union,  they  may  well  ask,  as  they  turn 
from  the  priest,  Are  we  really  married?  Perhaps 
there  was  no  intention  on  the  part  of  him  professing  to 
confer  the  sacrament;  perhaps  the  bride,  perhaps  the 
groom  lacked  the  intention.  In  either  case.  Holy 
Mother  infallible  affirms,  the  marriage  contract  is 
null/''  By  the  negligence  or  wickedness  of  him  who 
should  have  conferred  the  matrimonial  sacrament,  two 
persons,  though  innocent,  pure-minded  and  conscienti- 
ous, live  in  mortal  sin,  and  should  death  overtake 
them  in  that  state — and  how  can  they  ever  possess 
assurance  that  they  are  truly  married? — they  must 
sink  down  to  endless  perdition.  Worse  still;  one  of 
the  parties  may,  when  the  health,  wealth  or  beauty  of 
the  other  is  lost,  declare  under  oath  that  the  marriage 
ceremony,  by  the  lack  of  intention  on  his  or  her  part, 
was  a  nullity.  The  code  of  Rome  declares  the  union 
dissolved.  And  what  shall  hinder  an  adventurous 
wretch  from  designing  this  beforehand,  and  thus  send- 
ing to  eternal  woe  one  whose  greatest,  almost  only  sin, 
was  a  lavish  bestowment  of  the  entire  wealth  of  her 
affections  upon  an  object  so  unworthy? 

*  "Abridgment  of  Doctrine,"  p.  76. 


142  DESPOTISM. 

To  the  other  sacraments  of  Romanism,  we  need  not 
refer.  The  despotism  is  of  the  same  character  as  that 
apparent  in  all  parts  of  her  organized  system  of  traffic 
in  the  souls  of  men. 

As  an  engine  of  spiritual  despotism,  none,  perhaps, 
is  so  powerful  as  tJie  confessional.  It  crushes  the  poor 
deluded  Papist  to  the  very  dust.  Even  for  the  forgive- 
ness of  sins  committed  against  God,  he  looks  to  the 
priest.  "Absolution  is  not  a  bare  declaration  that  sin 
is  pardoned  by  God  to  the  penitent,  but  really  a  judi- 
cial act."  The  subjection  is  complete.  Are  such 
down-trodden  slaves  ever  likely  to  "  become  kings  and 
priests  unto  God?"  Could  we  expect  them  to  seek  the 
closet,  and  before  the  High-priest  of  our  j^rofession  seek 
and  obtain  pardon  in  tlie  blood  that  cleanses  from  all 
sin  ?  And  as  for  becoming  guardians  of  civil  liberty, 
the  very  idea  is  preposterous.  They  who,  at  the  nod 
of  Rome's  mitred  bishops,  lick  the  very  dust  and  swear 
eternal  loyalty  to  a  distant  spiritual  despot;  who 
openly  proclaim  that  their  first  allegiance  is  due  to 
Rome's  Sovereign  Pontiff;  who  are  educated  under  a 
system  bitterly  hostile  to  all  existing  forms  of  govern- 
ment, and  especially  to  those  founded  on  equal  rights ; 
who  anxiously,  prayerfull}^,  imploringly  await  the  re- 
turn of  the  nations  to  the  despotic  forms  of  government 
now  so  exceedingly  obnoxious ;  who  denounce  the  Re- 
formation as  the  fruitful  source  of  all  the  worst  evils 
that  have  ever  afflicted  human  society;  who  oppose 
our  common  school  system,  ridicule  the  right  of  private 


DESPOTISM.  143 

judgment,  repress  the  sterling  activity  which  has  en- 
riched the  nations,  transforming  continents  as  if  by 
magic,  and  determinedly  resist  the  onward  march  of 
liberty,  personal  and  national,  civil  and  religious, — 
can  such  victims  of  Papal  superstition  ever  become 
good  citizens  in  a  free  enlightened  republic  ? 

Even  the  claim  of  ability  to  forgive  sin,  presumptu- 
ous as  it  is,  and  their  yet  more  arrogant  claim  of  power 
to  send  the  soul  to  purgatory,  or  to  release  it  from  the 
purifying  fires,  are  surpassed  by  that  masterpiece  of 
heartless  malignity,  the  solemn  assertion  of  a  God- 
given  right  "to  damn  the  souls  of  rehelUous  and  refrac- 
tory men."  The  bull  against  Henry  YIII.,  as  also  that 
against  Queen  Elizabeth,  the  memorable  patroness  of 
literature,  is  the  "  excommunication  and  damnation  of 
the  Sovereign."  And  more  than  once  have  the  Popes 
pronounced  anathemas  against  the  entire  Protestant 
world.  Surely  Paul  was  predicting  Popery  when  he 
wrote :  "  Whose  coming  is  after  the  working  of  Satan 
with  all  power.''  Over  those  believing  her  doctrines 
Rome's  power  is  absolute.  Nero  himself  could  desire 
no  more. 

To  render  the  bondage  still  more  abject,  if  that  were 
possible,  one  Pope,  Stephen,  laid  the  talent  of  Peter 
under  contribution.  "When  Aistulphus,  king  of  the 
Lombards,  burning  with  rage  against  the  Pope,  laid 
siege  to  Rome,  Stephen,  driven  by  stern  necessity, 
dispatched  a  messenger  to  Pepin,  king  of  France,  with 
a  letter  purporting  to  come  from  St.  Peter,  servant  and 


144  DESPOTISM. 

Apostle  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  epistle,  direct  from 
heaven — written  on  mundane  paper — earnestly  en- 
treated and  peremptorily  ordered  '"'  the  first  son  of  the 
Church''  to  eani  an  eternal  reward  ''  h?/  hastening  to 
tJte  relief  of  the  city,  the  Church,  and  the  2^^ople  of 
Rome."  Then,  apparently  fearing  that  his  own  re- 
quests and  orders  should  he  despised  by  king  Pepin, 
Peter  considerately  adds :  "  Our  Lady,  the  Virgin 
^ary,  mother  of  God,  joins  in  earnestly  entreating, 
nay,  commands  you  to  hasten,  to  run,  to  fly,  to  the 
rehef  of  my  favorite  people,  reduced  almost  to  the  last 
gasp."  Pepin  obeA'ed.  The  letter  from  heaven  was 
effectual.  ''  The  monarch  of  the  first,  the  best  and  the 
most  deserving  of  all  nations,"  marched  immediately 
with  a  large  army  into  Italy.  Aistulphus  was  forced 
to  surrender  a  part  of  his  dominions  to  the  Pope,  '*  to 
be  forever  held  and  possessed  by  St.  Peter  and  his  law- 
ful successors  in  the  See  of  Rome."  Thus  the  Pope 
became  a  temporal  sovereign.  How  mildly  Stephen's 
successor,  Pius  IX.,  has  ruled,  let  the  vote  of  his  sub- 
jects so  lately  taken  testify.  If  ever  a  ruler  was 
em]3hatically  pronounced  a  despot,  the  j^i'esent  Pope 
has  been.'^' 

And  to  judge  from  his  denunciations  of  liberty,  so 
repeatedly  and  emphatically  made,  especially  in  the 
documents  preparatory  to  the  Vatican  Council,  the 
Italian  peoj)le  are  certainl}-  not  wide  of  the  mark. 
His  pious  soul  seems  inflamed  with  holy  indignation 

*  The  vote  stood  :  for  Dethronement  of  Pope,  40,805  ;  against,  46. 


DESPOTISM  145 

against  the  present  fonns  of  government.  "Anarchic 
doctrines,"  he  affirms,  ''  have  taken  possession  of  men's 
minds  so  universally,  that  it  is  not  possible  now  to  dis- 
cover a  single  State  in  Europe  that  is  not  governed 
upon  principles  hostile  to  the  faith."  And  this  proud 
potentate  assumes  the  right  to  lord  it  over  princes  as 
well  as  people :  '■^  It  is  not  he  (the  Pope)  who  has 
given  up  the  State ;  it  is  the  State  that  has  revolted 
from  him ;  the  old  days  of  the  Passion  have  returned ; 
the  nations  will  not  have  this  man  to  rule  over  them, 
so  they  give  themselves  to  CsBsar."'^'  Nor  is  this 
embodiment  of  despotic  power,  who  claims  spiritual 
and  even  temporal  dominion  over  all  secular  princes, 
any  more  ready  to  acknowledge  the  authority  of  a 
General  Council.  Such  a  Council  can  convene  only  at 
his  bidding.  "And  if,  under  some  circumstances,  all 
the  bishops  did  meet,  and  formed  themselves  into  a 
Council,  their  acts  would  be  null,  unless  the  Pope  con- 
sented to  them."-|-  Even  to  the  decisions  of  a  Council 
properly  convoked,  the  Pope,  it  is  affirmed,  is  not  re- 
quired to  submit.  "As  the  Pope  is  higher  than  all 
bishops,  none  of  them  could  have  jurisdiction  over 
him.  .  .  .  Not  even  of  his  own  choice  could  he  ^-ield 
obedience.  .  .  .  He  could  not  submit  to  their  juris- 
diction voluntarily,  because  his  power  is  a  divine 
gift."  J  Did  ever  another's  power  reach  so  lofty  an 
altitude  as  to  render  voluntary  obedience  an  absolute 

*  "The  Year  of  Preparation  for  the  Vatican  Council,"  p.  18. 
t  Idem,  p.  12.     J  Idem,  p.  22. 
10 


146  DESPOTISM. 

impossibility  ?  Even  when  seated  in  the  Council,  sur- 
rounded by  those  who  are  nothing  more  than  counsel- 
lors of  the  supreme  judge,  his  Holiness  is  still  the 
Pope.  "  He  is  there  as  the  Pope."  "  The  whole 
authority  resides  really  in  himself,  for  though  he  com- 
municates of  his  powers  to  the  assembled  Prelates,  yet 
he  does  not  divest  himself  of  his  own.  .  .  .  Thus  the 
supreme  jurisdiction  of  the  Church  never  passes  away 
from  the  Supreme  Pontiff,  and  does  not  even  vest  in  a 
General  Council.  .  .  .  The  reason  assigned  for  this 
lies  in  the  fact  that  the  gift  of  infallibility  is  not  com- 
municated to  the  Council,  but  abides  in  the  Pope."  * 
No  wonder  the  Pope  so  tenderly  commends  that 
"teaching  which  makes  the  Church  our  Mother,  and 
all  the  faithful  little  children  listening  to  the  voice  of 
St.  Peter." 

As  an  appropriate  and  suggestive  conclusion  to  this 
chapter,  we  beg  the  privilege  of  introducing  the  reader 
to  this  lordly  potentate,  this  king  of  kings,  and  bishop 
of  bishops,  this  Infallible  Judge  in  faith  and  morals, 
in  the  act  of  proving  himself  a  servant  of  servants. 
Graphically  is  the  scene  described  in  the  Catholic 
World  of  July,  1870.  An  eye-witness,  evidently  and 
certainly  a  loyal  subject  of  Pius  IX.,  touches  the  pic- 
ture with  an  artist's  hand.  During  Holy  Week  in 
Rome,  the  bishops  of  the  Vatican  Council  being  pres- 
ent, the  Sovereign  Pontiff  gave  proof,  to  Papists  en- 
tirely satisfactory,  that  he  was  of  all  men  the  humblest. 

*  "The  Year  of  Preparation  for  the  Vatican  Council,"  pp.  27,  28, 


DESPOTISM.  147 

On  a  raised  platform,  in  the  full  view  of  several  thou- 
sand of  his  adoring  subjects,  His  Humility  prepares 
himself  for  the  ceremony  of  washing  and  kissing  the 
feet  of  thirteen  pilgrim  priests  to  Rome,  one  a  Sene- 
gambian  negro.  As  the  voices  of  the  choir,  in  soul- 
subduing  melody,  intone,  "A  new  command  I  give 
you,"  the  humble  servant — his  head  adorned  with  a 
mitre,  typical,  we  suppose,  of  the  poverty  and  humble 
station  of  St.  Peter,  his  predecessor — girds  on  an  apron. 
Before  him  are  the  thirteen  travellers,  dressed  in  long 
white  robes,  cut  in  the  style  of  a  thousand  years  ago, 
and  wearing  white  rimless  stove-pipe  hats,  surmounted 
hy  tufts.  Shoes  and  stockings  spotlessly  white  com- 
plete the  costume  of  these  Aveary  pilgrims  from  distant 
climes.  An  attendant,  full  robed  and  exceedingly 
dignified,  with  studied  precision,  unlaces  the  brand 
new,  stainlessly  white  shoe,  and  lets  down  the  immacu- 
late stocking  on  the  right  foot  of  the  nearest  pilgrim. 
Breathless  silence  reigns.  All  eyes  are  intensely  fixed. 
A  vessel  of  water,  and  span  clean  towels  are  handed 
the  Pontiff.  He  washes  the  instep,  wipes  it,  kisses  it, 
and  gives  the  happy  possessor  a  nosegay — minus  the 
gold  coin  of  former  and  better  days,  when  the  traffic  in 
indulgences  was  brisk.  A  murmur  of  applause,  like 
the  ripple  of  many  waters,  rmis  through  the  vast 
cathedral.  Another  and  another  instep  is  washed  and 
kissed.  "  The  jet  black  negro,"  as  a  new  anthem  rings 
through  the  vast  arches  of  St.  Peter's,  and  the  assem- 
bled spectators,  in  an  ecstasy  of  humbled  devotion, 


148  DESPOTISM. 

whisper  in  half-broken  accents,  "  Vive  Tlnfallihle^* 
finds  his  instep  pressed  by  the  infallible  lips  of  His 
Holiness,  the  Supreme  Judge  of  all  men.  The  cere- 
mony is  ended.  During  its  continuance  an  hundred 
human  beings  have  gone  down  to  death.  Infallibility 
can  find  no  fitter  employment  than  such  exhibitions  of 
mock  humility !  Washing  the  clean  feet,  and  crushing 
the  blackened  souls  ! !  Feigping  the  humility  of  the 
poor,  despised,  lowly  Nazarene,  and  blasphemously 
claiming  the  attributes  of  Deity ! ! ! 


CHAPTER    IV. 

FRAUD  : — RELICS. 

HE  coming  of  the  mystery  of  iniquity,  Paul  pre- 
dicted, should  be  not  merely  with  "  all  'poioei\'' 

Y\  but  with  "  signs  and  lying  wonders^  Could  lan- 
guage more  accurately  describe  the  countless 
relics  which  Rome's  votaries  venerate  ? — Lying  wonders. 
Without  attempting  to  furnish  a  complete  list — the 
bare  catalogue  would  make  a  large  octavo  volume — we 
present  a  few,  enough  to  determine  the  character  of  all. 

The  early  Christians,  it  would  seem,  must  have  been 
particularly  careful  to  preserve  the  bones  of  their  dead. 
In  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Peter,  at  Rome,  they  have  an 
arm  of  St.  Lazarus ;  a  finger  and  arm  of  St.  Ann,  the 
Holy  Virgin's  Mother;  and  the  head  of  St,  Dennis, 
which  he  caught  up  and  carried  the  distance  of  two 
miles  after  it  had  been  cut  off.  In  France  they  have 
four  heads  of  John  the  Baptist.  In  Spain,  France,  and 
Flanders  they  have  eiglit  arms  of  St.  Matthew !  and 
three  of  St.  Luke !  In  the  Lateran  Church,  in  Rome, 
they  have  the  entire  heads  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul ; 
and  in  the  convent  of  the  St.  Augustines,  at  Bilboa,  the 
holy  monks  have  a  large  part  of  Peter's  head,  and  the 
Franciscans  a  large  part  of  Paul's.     At  Burgos  they 

149 


1 50  -^^^1  ^^D :— RELICS. 

have  the  tail  of  BaUiam's  ass,  a  part  of  the  bodj^  of 
St.  Mark,  and  an  arm  and  finger  of  St.  Ann.  At  Aix- 
la-Chapelle  they  have  two  teeth  of  St.  Thomas;  part 
of  an  arm  of  St.  Simeon ;  a  tooth  of  St.  Catharine ;  a 
rib  of  St.  Stephen ;  a  shoulder  blade  and  leg  bone  of 
St.  Mary  Magdalene ;  oil  from  the  bones  of  St.  Eliza- 
beth ;  bones  of  Sts.  Andrew,  James,  Matthias,  Luke, 
Mark,  Timotheus  and  John  the  Baptist.  Perhaps  it  is 
for  the  purpose  of  carrying  all  these  sacred  relics  that 
Rome  has  five  legs  of  the  ass  upon  which  our  Saviour 
rode  into  Jerusalem. 

Nor  are  bones  their  only  precious  mementoes.  In 
almost  every  chapel  in  Europe  may  be  found  pieces  of 
the  cross  on  which  our  Lord  was  crucified.  If  these 
were  all  collected,  no  doubt  they  would  furnish  an 
amount  of  material  equal  to  that  contained  in  one  of 
the  largest  dwellings  in  America.  In"  Rome  they  have 
also  the  cross  of  the  good  thief;  also  the  entire  table  on 
which  our  Lord  celebrated  the  Paschal  Supper.  And  a 
recent  publication,  "  The  Living  Eucharist  manifested 
by  Miracles,"  assures  us,  "  this  is  the  true  table  of  the 
Lord,  that  on  which  the  world's  Redeemer  and  God, 
Jesus,  offered  the  first  eucharistic  sacrifice."  And  on 
the  same  authority  we  learn  that  at  the  cathedral  of 
Valencia,  in  Spain,  they  have  "  the  cup  in  which  His 
blood  was  first  laid,  the  chalice  elevated  from  the  table 
by  his  divine  hands."  "At  St.  Mark's,  in  Venice," 
says  the  same  author,  "  the  knife  used  by  our  Lord  in 
touching,  not  cutting,  the  bread,  is  exjDosed  each  year, 


FRA  UD :— RELICS.  151 

on  Holy  Thursday  for  the  veneration  of  the  faithful." 
Even  the  old  room,  that  very  upper  chamber  in  Jerusa- 
lem, in  which  our  Lord  wrought  that  miracle  of  mira- 
cles, transubstantiating  the  bread  into  his  actual  flesh 
and  blood,  is  even  now  "  retained  in  a  tolerable  state." 
Fearing  that  no  Protestant  can  possibly  believe  men  so 
credulous,  and  that  my  honesty  in  reporting  these  "  lying 
wonders  "  may  be  called  in  question,  I  refer  the  reader 
to  the  little  tract  published  in  London,  A.  d.  1869, 
written  by  George  Keating,  "The  Living  Eucharist 
manifested  by  Miracles."  Here  he  will  find  what  is 
enough  to  make  one  shudder  with  horror  as  he  contem- 
plates the  abyss  of  superstition  into  which  Papists  have 
fallen. 

And  they  have  yet  more  wonderful  mementoes  than 
bones  and  wood.  In  more  than  one  cathedral  they 
have  specimens  of  the  manna  of  the  wilderness,  and  a 
few  blossoms  of  Aaron's  rod.  In  Eome  they  have  tlie 
very  ark  that  Moses  made,  and  the  rod  by  which  he 
wrought  his  miracles.  At  Gastonbury  they  have  the 
identical  stones  which  the  devil  tempted  our  Lord  to 
turn  into  bread.  In  another  of  their  chapels  they  have 
the  dice  employed  by  the  soldiers  in  casting  lots  for  the 
Saviour's  garments. 

They  have  St.  Joseph's  axe  and  saw ;  St.  Anthony's 
millstone,  on  which  he  crossed  the  sea;  St.  Patrick's 
staff,  by  which  he  drove  out  the  toads  and  snakes  from 
Ireland;  St.  Francis'  cowl;  St.  Ann's  comb;  St.  Joseph's 
breeches ;  St.  Mark's  boots ;  "  a  piece  of  the  Virgin's 


1 52  FRA  UD :— RELICS. 

green  petticoat;"  St.  Anthony's  toe-nails,  and  "the 
parings  of  St.  Edmund's  toes." 

Then,  also,  there  are  in  their  convents,  all  carefully 
suspended  from  the  walls,  most  precious  relics  pre- 
served in  hermetically  sealed  bottles.  There  is  a  vial 
of  St.  Joseph's  breath,  cauglit  as  he  was  exercising 
himself  with  the  very  axe  and  saw  now  in  their  posses- 
sion. There  are  several  vials  of  the  Holy  Virgin's 
milk ;  and — will  you  doubt  it,  poor  deluded  Protestants  ? 
— a  small  roll  of  butter  and  a  little  piece  of  cheese  made 
from  her  milk.  They  have  also  hair  from  the  heads  of 
most  of  their  saints,  and  twelve  combs,  one  from  each 
of  the  Apostles,  with  which  to  dress  it.  And  what  is  a 
little  marvellous,  these  combs  are  declared  to  be 
"  nearly  as  good  as  new." 

To  end  our  enumeration  of  her  sacred  relics ;  they 
have  a  small  j)iece  of  the  rope  with  which  Judas  hanged 
himself;  "a  bit  of  the  finger  of  the  Holy  Ghost;"  the 
nose  of  an  angel ;  '•  a  rib  of  the  Word  made  flesh ; "  "a 
quantity  of  the  identical  rays  of  the  star  which  led  the 
wise  men  to  our  infant  Saviour;"  Christ's  seamless 
coat ;  two  original  impressions  of  his  face  on  two  pocket- 
handkerchiefs  ;  a  wing  of  the  archangel  Gabriel,  obtained 
by  the  prayers  of  Pope  Gregory  VII.;  the  beard  of 
Noah ;  a  piece  of  the  very  same  porphyry  pillar,  on 
which  the  cock  perched  when  he  crowed  after  Peter's 
denial,  and  even  the  comb  of  the  cock ;  and  then  the 
pearl  of  the  entire  collection,  "  one  of  the  steps  of  the 
ladder  on  which  Jacob,  in  his  dream,  saw  the  heavenly 


FRAUD.— RELICS.  153 

host  ascending  and  descending."  A  recent  traveller  to 
Rome  not  merely  saw  these  wonders,  but  was  consider- 
ately and  affectionately  told  that  inasmuch  as  he  was  a 
^'devout  man"  he  could  obtain  a  small  portion  of  these 
precious  reUcs  at  a  moderate  price.  He  was  offered  a 
feather  from  Gabriel's  wing  for  twenty-five  cents.''' 

If  we  add  to  the  above  idolatries,  their  adoration  of 
statues  and  images  and  the  consecrated  wafer,  Ave  have 
a  system  of  superstition,  such  as  no  Pagan  in  his  wild- 
est vagaries  ever  dreamed  of.  And  that  they  do  wor- 
ship these  relics  is,  alas,  too  evident.  We  speak  not 
merely  of  the  ignorant  masses,  perliaps  for  their  debas- 
ing idolatries  the  Church  is  not  entirely  responsible 
(although  this  may  be  fairly  questioned,  since  her 
whole  system  is,  in  its  very  nature,  adapted  to  produce 
the  grossest  superstition),  but  we  charge  this  idol  wor- 
ship upon  the  most  highly  educated  of  their  clergy. 

*  A  noted  Catholic  historian  tells  us  that  when  St.  Ambrose  needed 
relics  with  which  to  consecrate  a  church  at  Milan,  "immediately  his 
heart  burned  within  him,  in  presage  as  he  felt  of  what  was  to 
happen."  By  a  dream  he  was  directed  to  the  spot  where  he  would 
find  the  bones  of  St.  Gervasius  and  St.  Prostasius.  "Having  dis- 
covered their  skeletons,  all  their  bones  entire,  a  quantity  of  blood 
about,  and  their  heads  separated  from  their  bodies,  ....  they 
arranged  them,  covered  them  with  cloths  and  laid  them  on  litters. 
In  this  manner  they  were  carried  towards  evening  to  the  Basilica  of 
St.  Fausta,  where  vigils  were  celebrated  all  night,  and  several  that 
were  possessed  received  imposition  of  hands.  That  day  and  the  next 
there  was  a  great  concourse  of  people,  and  then  tlie  old  men  recol- 
lected that  they  had  formerly  heard  the  names  of  these  martyrs." 
"Profane  and  old  wives'  fables." 


1 54  FRA  UD :— RELICS. 

Thomas  Aquinas  says,  "  If  we  speak  of  the  very  cross 
on  which  Christ  was  crucified,  it  is  to  be  worshipped 
with  divine  worship."  And  the  prayers  which  are  to 
be  said  in  the  adoration  of  these  sacred  bits  of  wood  are 
given  in  the  "  Roman  Missal."  ^ 

"  Oh,  judgment!  tlioii  hast  fled  to  brutish  beasts, 
And  men  have  lost  their  reason." 


CHAPTER    V. 

FRAUD  : — MIRACLES. 

OME  ever  has  claimed,  and  does  still  claim,  the 
power  of  working  miracles.  One  of  her  most 
^^  eminent  historians  says  :  "  The  Catholic  Church 
being  always  the  chaste  spouse  of  Christ,  contin- 
uing to  bring  forth  children  of  heroical  sanctity, — God 
fails  not  in  this,  any  more  than  in  past  ages,  to  ilhistrate 
her  and  them  by  unquestionable  miracles."  The  Rev. 
James  Kent  Stone,  a  recent  convert  to  Romanism,  in 
his  "  Invitation  Heeded"  repeatedly  and  emphatically 
claims  for  the  Church  of  his  adoption  the  unquestioned 
ability  to  work  miracles.  He  even  undertakes  a  de- 
fence of  those  she  has  published  to  the  world,  affirm- 
ing that  they  are  as  credible,  nay,  in  some  instances 
more  so,  than  those  recorded  in  the  Bible.  Here  is  a 
specimen: — "In  1814,  a  man  who  had  his  back-bone 
broken  was  made  whole  by  making  a  pilgrimage  to 
Garswood,  and  there  getting  the  sign  of  the  cross 
made  on  his  back  by  some  unknown  priest  called  Ar- 
rowsmith,  who  was  killed  in  the  wars  of  Charles  I." 
The  bull  of  the  Pope  assigning  a  reason  why  the 
Virgin  Magdalene  should  be  canonized,  reads  thus : 
"  Not  without  good  reason  with  that  incorruption  and 

155 


156  FRA  UD  :—MlRA  CLES. 

good  odor  of  her  body,  which  continues  to  this  day." 
A  ^'delicious  odor''  was  emitted  from  her  grave.  St. 
Patrick  sailed  to  Ireland  on  a  millstone,  and  drove  out 
all  the  snakes  and  toads  with  his  staff. 

St.  Francis,  founder  of  the  Franciscan  order  of 
monks,  who  "  had  no  teacher  but  Christ,  and  learned 
all  by  an  immediate  revelation,"  and  of  whom  St. 
Bridget  had  a  marvellous  vision  testifying  that  "the 
Franciscan  rule  was  not  composed  by  the  wisdom  of 
men,  but  by  God  himself,"  was,  on  one  occasion,  sorely 
tempted  by  a  devil  in  the  form  of  a  beautiful,  facin- 
ating  lady.  On  a  certain  evening,  however,  when 
again  tempted,  "  he  spit  in  the  devil's  face."  His 
biographer  solemnly  adds,  "  Confounded  and  disgusted 
the  devil  fled."  A  miracle !  This  same  holy  St.  Fran- 
cis predicted  the  day  of  his  death,  and  even  after  his 
decease  Avrought  miracles  by  his  intercessory  prayers. 
He  had  a  vision  of  a  seraph,  the  effect  of  which  was 
that  "His  soul  was  utterly  inflamed  with  seraphic 
ardor,  and  his  body  ever  after  retained  the  similar 
wounds  of  Christ."  In  consequence  of  these  wounds, 
and  the  miracles  he  performd,  so  great  becatne  his  honor, 
that  in  Roman  books  it  is  written,  "  Those  only  were 
saved  by  the  blood  of  Christ  who  lived  before  St. 
Francis;  but  all  that  followed  were  redeemed  by  the 
blood  of  St.  Francis." 

Miracles  were  wrought  in  favor  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception,  and  miracles  were  wrought  against  it. 
And  what  to  Protestants  seems  strange,  Rome  confirmed 


FRA  UD  :—MlRA  CLES.  157 

both  classes,  and  canonized  those  who  achieved  mir- 
acles in  favor  of,  and  those  ^yho  achieved  miracles 
against,  this  precious  doctrine. 

Take  another  of  Rome's  unquestionable  miracles.  St, 
Wenefride  being  a  nun,  of  course  could  not  marry. 
Her  suitor,  young  Prince  Caradoc,  in  anger  at  this,  cut 
off  her  head.  This  gave  rise  to  three  miracles :  1.  St. 
Beuno  caused  the  earth  to  open,  and  young  Caradoc 
was  swallowed  up ;  2.  A  well  opened  on  the  spot  where 
the  nun's  blood  was  shed,  and  the  holy  waters  of  this 
healing  fountain  work  miracles  unto  this  day;  3.  St. 
Beuno  placed  the  nun's  head  on  the  bleeding  body, 
prayed  to  the  "  Mother  of  Christ,"  and  behold  St. 
Wenefride  was  immediately  restored  to  life.  Who  will 
dare  to  say  that  these  miracles  are  not  far  more  w^on- 
derful  than  any  recorded  in  Scripture?  Protestants, 
in  their  ignorance,  may  be  inclined  to  call  them  "  lying 
wonders"  but  Roman  infallibility  has  pronounced  them 
"  unquestionahle  miracles T 

St.  Dominic,  on  one  occasion,  during  a  dreadful 
tempest,  exhorted  the  inhabitants  of  Toulouse  to  ap- 
pease the  wrath  of  heaven  by  reciting  their  prayers. 
The  arm  of  the  wooden  image  of  the  Virgin  in  the 
church  was  raised  in  a  threatening  attitude.  "  Hear 
me,"  shouted  St.  Dominic,  "that  arm  will  not  be 
withdrawn  till  you  have  obeyed  my  commands."  The 
terrified  worshippers  instantly  set  to  work,  counting 
their  beads.  Dominic,  satisfied  with  their  spiritual 
devotions,  gave  the  order,  and  the  arm  of  wrath  im- 


158  FRA  UD  :—MIRA  CLES. 

mediately  fell.  The  storm  abated.  The  thunder  and 
lightning  ceased. 

The  blood  of  St.  Januarius,  preserved  in  a  small 
bottle  at  Naples,  is  wont  to  liquefy,  and  sometimes  boil, 
when  exposed  to  the  adoration  of  the  faithful.  This 
miracle,  Protestants  might  be  excused  from  believing, 
especially  as  on  one  occasion,  when  it  refused  to  dissolve 
because  the  French  soldiers  occupied  the  kingdom,  it 
afterwards  concluded  to  do  so,  inasmuch  as  the  Vicar  of 
the  bishops  received  this  order  from  the  French  Com- 
mander :  "  If  in  ten  minutes  St.  Januarius  should  not 
perform  his  usual  miracle,  the  whole  city  shall  be  re- 
duced to  ashes."  The  obstinate  saint  came  to  terms ! 
The  blood  boiled  furiously ! 

But  perhaps  some  one  may  be  inclined  to  question 
whether  miracles  so  preposterously  absurd  are  now 
offered  to  the  faith  of  Papists.  Possibly  some,  by  read- 
ing "  The  Aspirations  of  Nature,"  a  work  written  to 
make  converts  to  Catholicism,  may  imagine  that  Roman- 
ists are  less  credulous,  less  superstitious,  less  blindly 
bigoted  now  than  in  the  middle  ages.  For  the  benefit 
of  such  we  refer  to  miracles  whose  long  drawn  accounts 
are  to  be  found  in  books  now  issuing,  in  this  very 
country,  under  the  official  and  authoritative  endorse- 
ment of  Rome.  In  the  "  Living  Eucharist  manifested 
by  Miracles,"  the  infallible,  authoritative,  apostolic 
Church,  the  unerring  teacher  of  divine  truth,  in  this 
nineteenth  century  actually  records  some  twenty  or 
more  miracles  wrought  in  proof  of  the  real  presence. 


FRA  UD  :—MIRA  CLES.  159 

Bishops,  priests  and  nuns,  we  are  solemnly  tolcl,  cer- 
tainly saw  the  wafer,  after  the  benediction  of  the  jDriest, 
changed  into  an  infant.  The  bread  became  real  flesh 
and  blood,  a  perfect  infant,  Jesus  himself.  In  one  case 
a  priest  was  seen  laying  a  beautiful  babe,  Jesus,  on  the 
tongue  of  each  communicant.  Wafers  carried?  several 
days  in  the  pocket  of  a  bishop,  on  being  blessed  became 
little  infants.  Did  ever  blasphemy  and  irreverence 
equal  this  ?  Dogmatically  affirming  that  the  testimony 
of  the  senses  is  not  to  be  taken  in  matters  of  faith. 
Papists  endeavor  to  establish  a  doctrine  which  is  in 
itself  so  repugnant  to  reason  that  one  would  suppose 
none  but  an  idiot  could  believe  it.  And  this  publica- 
tion has  the  sanction  of  Papal  infallibility.  Now,  there- 
fore, heretics,  doubt  no  longer.  Believe  that  the  priest 
creates  a  god,  worships  him,  and  then  eats  him.  Presume 
not  to  smile  at  this  precious  doctrine  of  transubstantia- 
tion,  this  sublime  mystery,  which  the  Rev.  James  Kent 
Stone  (who  in  a  short  fifteen  months  passed  from  a  public 
defender  of  Episcopacy  to  a  most  ardent  advocate  of  the 
Papacy)  affirms  is  a  doctrine  so  spiritual  that  purblind 
Protestants  cannot  be  expected  to  comprehend  it. 

Another  tract,  published  in  London,  "  The  Miracle 
of  Liege,  by  the  use  of  the  water  from  the  fountain  of 
Our  Lady  of  Lourdes,"  deserves  attention.  This  also 
can  be  purchased  in  almost  any  Catholic  bookstore. 
"  Mr.  Hanquet's  Narrative." — He  was  taken,  he  affirms, 
extremely  ill  in  18G2.  Continuing  to  grow  worse,  in 
July    1SG4  sitting  up  even  for  a  few  momemts  was 


160  FRAUD  .—MIR A CLES. 

an  impossibility.  In  1S67,  ulcers,  eiysipelas,  "a  back 
bent  like  a  bow,"  "  a  chest  like  a  fiery  oven,"  and  "  blood- 
less withered  legs,"  rendered  life  a  burden.  The  physi- 
cian affirmed  :  "  I  find  symptons  of  almost  all  diseases." 
In  1869  all  hope  of  recovery  faded  away.  Ilis  brother, 
however,  on  Oct.  1 3th,  found  in  a  bookstore  the  account 
of  Our  Lady  of  Lourdes.  Already  the  dying  man  was 
praying  most  importunately  to  the  Mother  of  God, 
Blessed  Lady,  Mary  Immaculate.  A  bottle  of  water 
was  sent  for.  A  glass  of  it  was  poured  down  the  throat 
of  the  dying  man.  Mary's  aid  was  invoked.  For  an 
instant  the  death  rattle  was  heard;  then  one  bound, 
and  the  man,  well  and  strong,  seized  his  hat  and  went 
out  doors  wholly  restored.  A  miracle  indeed  ! ! !  And 
this,  my  dear  Protestant  friend,  has  the  sanction  of 
Papal  infallibility.  Who  will  not  henceforth  pra}'-  with 
devout  Hanquet :  "  Holy  Virgin,  deign  to  ask  for  me 
from  3-our  divine  Son  that  grace  which  is  best  for  me, 
to  die,  to  sufier  or  to  be  cured,"  especially  tlie  last,  to  he 
cured  ?  This  wonderful  account  of  a  very  remarkable 
miracle — unless  you  are  sacrilegious  enough  to  call  it 
one  of  Rome's  lying  wonders — this  incontestable  j)roof 
of  the  efficacy  of  prayer  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  you  can 
make  your  own  for  twelve  cents.  This  in  the  year 
1870.  and  in  New  York. 

M.  C.  Kavanagh,  in  her  catechism  and  instructions 
for  confession  designed  for  very  young  children,  having 
heartily  commended  the  patience  of  St.  Joseph,  who, 
when  a  little  lad,  though  bathed  in  tears,  offgred  no 


FRAUD:— MIRACLES.  161 

reproach  to  those  destroying  his  highly  prized  Uttle 
garden  (tradition,  i.  e.  fiction  pure  and  simple),  our 
authoress  gives,  by  Avay  of  enforcing  the  duty  of 
penance,  "  a  story  of  Our  Blessed  Lady."  Little  Mary 
when  three  or  four  years  old,  informed  the  priest  that 
she  had  imposed  upon  herself  penances,  to  eat  no  fruit 
except  one  kind,  to  drink  no  wine  or  vinegar  of  which 
she  was  very  fond,  to  eat  no  meat  or  fish,  and  to  rise 
three  times  in  the  night  to  pray.  Heartily  do  we  join 
in  the  ejaculation  of  the  narrator,  "  This  at  the  age  of 
three  years!"  We  certainly  think  that  the  dogma  of 
infallibility  is  really  needed.  How  otherwise  could 
such  a  dose  as  this  be  forced  down  even  a  Papist's 
throat.  The  second  instruction  closes  with  this  pious 
admonition:  "Do  not  fail  to  pray  to  Our  Lady  and  St. 
Jeseph  to  help  you."  Fed  upon  such  food,  is  it  any 
wonder  that  the  children  of  our  Catholic  fellow-citizens 
grow  up  in  the  grossest  ignorance,  in  superstition  that 
would  disgrace  a  heathen  in  Central  Africa  ? 

But  the  third  uistruction  contains  the  gem,  "  a  true 
Qniracler  Only  five  years  ago,  in  a  village  of  France 
(how  unfortunate,  these  miracles  always  occur  in  some 
distant  land),  there  resided  a  certain  cure.  Among 
those  who  came  to  him  was  a  gentleman  who  had  great 
temptations  against  faith  in  the  Blessed  Eucharist. 
(Not  so  unreasonable  when  he  was  asked  to  believe, 
contrary  to  the  testimon}^  of  his  senses,  that  bread  was 
flesh.)  One  day,  as  this  doubter  came  to  communion, 
the  sacred  host  left  the  hands  of  the  cure  and  j^laced 


162  FEA  UD  :—MIRA  CLES. 

itself  on  the  tongue  of  the  gentleman.  Our  authoress, 
in  holy  fervor  exclaims,  "What  a  miracle  of  love!" 
And  we  are  impious  enough  to  respond,  What  a  trans- 
'parent  falsehood  ! 

Obedience  is  a  Christian  duty  which  certainly  ought 
to  be  commended  to  children.  Here  is  Rome's  way  of 
enjoining  it.  St.  Frances  whilst  saying  the  office  of 
Our  Lady,  which  she  did  daily  (how  adroitly  Mary's 
worship  is  commended),  was  called  by  her  servant. 
Leaving  her  prayers  she  attended  to  the  request.  Re- 
turning, scarcely  had  she  begun  the  psalm  when  she 
was  called  a  second  time.  Without  loss  of  patience 
again  she  left  her  book  to  obey  the  command.  Just 
after  she  had  resumed  her  prayers  for  the  third  time 
her  husband  called.  Leaving  all,  she  ran  to  him.  Re- 
turning, what  was  her  surprise  to  find  the  words,  writ- 
ten in  letters  of  gold  :  "  Now,  therefore,  dear  children, 
always  obey  the  calls  of  duty." 

Lengthy  as  our  list  has  become,  we  cannot  pass  the 
two  hundred  or  more  remarkable  miracles  contained  in 
the  ever-memorable  book,  so  celebrated  in  Catholic  com- 
munities, "  The  Glories  of  Mary,"  by  St.  Alphonsus 
Liguori.*  This  book  was  never  intended  for  Protestant 
eyes.  The  original  having  been  carefully  examined, 
and  every  line,  even  every  word  found  in  perfect  har- 
mony with  the  doctrines  of  Holy  Mother,  and  the  trans- 
lation   in    like    manner    ^'^  expurgated^'    approved   and 

*  A  life  of  this  saint,  in  four  vols  ,  by  Cardinal  Villecourt,  has  been 
recently  published. 


FRA  UD  :—MIRA  CLES.  1  g3 

earnestly  commended  to  the  faithful,  the  work  ^Yas 
introduced  "  with  the  hope  that  it  might  be  found  to 
retain  the  spirit  of  the  learned  and  saintly  author,  and 
be  welcomed  by  the  devout  in  this  country  with  the 
same  delight  which  it  has  universally  called  forth  in 
Catholic  Europe."  Whatever  miracles  are  herein  found 
may  therefore  be  taken  as  duly  attested  and  approved 
by  Papal  infallibility.  Here  is  one.  A  gentleman 
devoted  to  Blessed  Mary  was  accustomed  often  in  the 
night  to  repair  to  the  oratory  of  his  palace  to  bow  in 
prayer  to  an  image  of  the  Virgin.  His  wife,  jealous 
and  angered,  asked  him,  "  Have  you  ever  loved  any 
other  woman  but  me?"  He  rejDlied,  "I  love  the  most 
amiable  lady  in  the  world ;  to  her  I  have  given  my 
whole  heart,"  meaning  Mary  (?)  The  wife  still  more 
suspicious  asked,  "  When  you  arise  and  leave  the  room, 
is  it  to  meet  this  lady?"  "Yes."  "Deceived  and 
blinded  by  passion,"  this  wife,  one  night  during  her 
husband's  long  absence,  "  cut  her  throat  and  very  soon 
died.''  The  heart-broken  husband  on  learning  this, 
implored  help  of  Mary's  image.  No  sooner  was  this 
done  than  the  living  wife,  throwing  herself  at  his  feet, 
bathed  in  tears,  exclaimed,  "Oh,  my  husband,  the 
Mother  of  God,  through  thy  prayers,  has  delivered  me 
from  hell." 

"  The  next  day  the  husband  made  a  feast,  and  the 
wife  told  her  relatives  the  facts,  and  showed  the  marks 
of  the  wound."     Now,  heretics,  doubt  if  you  dare. 

Let  us   have  one    in  the  exact  language  of  "the 


164  FEA  UD  .—MIR  A  CLES. 

learned  and  saintly  author."  ''  There  lived  in  the  city 
of  Aragona  a  girl  named  Alexandra,  who,  being  noble 
and  very  beautiful,  was  greatly  loved  by  two  young 
men.  Through  jealousy,  they  one  day  fought  and 
killed  each  other.  Their  enraged  relatives,  in  return, 
killed  the  poor  young  girl,  as  the  cause  of  so  much 
trouble,  cut  oif  her  head,  and  threw  her  into  a  well. 
A  few  days  after,  St.  Dominic  was  passing  through 
that  place,  and,  inspired  by  the  Lord,  approached  the 
well,  and  said :  '  Alexandra,  come  forth,'  and  immedi- 
ately the  head  of  the  deceased  came  forth,  placed 
itself  on  the  edge  of  the  well,  and  prayed  St.  Dominic 
to  hear  its  confession.  The  Saint  heard  its  confession, 
and  also  gave  it  communion,  in  presence  of  a  great 
concourse  of  persons  who  had  assembled  to  witness  the 
miracle.  Then  St.  Dominic  ordered  her  to  speak,  and 
tell  why  she  had  received  that  grace.  Alexandra 
answered,  that  when  she  was  beheaded,  she  was  in  a 
state  of  mortal  sin,  but  that  the  most  Holy  Mary,  on 
account  of  the  rosary,  which  she  was  in  the  habit  of 
reciting,  had  preserved  her  in  life.  Two  days  the 
head  retained  its  life  upon  the  edge  of  the  well,  in  the 
presence  of  all,  and  then  the  soul  went  to  purgatory. 
But  fifteen  days  after,  the  soul  of  Alexandra  appeared 
to  St.  Dominic,  beautiful  and  radiant  as  a  star,  and 
told  him  that  one  of  the  principal  sources  of  relief  to 
the  souls  in  purgatory  is  the  rosary  which  is  recited 
for  them ;  and  that,  as  soon  as  they  arrive  in  paradise, 
they  pray  for  those  who  apply  to  them  these  2:)owerful 


FRA  UD  .—MIRA  CLES.  1 


VJ<J 


prayers.  Having  said  this,  St.  Dominic  saw  that 
liaj)py  soul  ascending  in  triumph  to  the  kingdom  of 
the  blessed." — "  Glories  of  Mary,"  American  Ed.,  p.  274. 

Of  others  we  have  merely  time  to  give  the  briefest 
outline.  Mary's  image  furnishes  written  prayers  to  a 
penitent  (p.  76) ;  rescues  a  condemned  murderer  from 
the  gallows  (p.  78) ;  bows  to  a  murderer  (p.  213) ;  be- 
comes and  continues  a  nun  fifteen  years,  in  order  to 
shield  a  devotee  who  wilfully'  deserted  the  paths  of 
virtue  (p.  224)  ;  leaves  a  church  during  the  trial,  con- 
demnation and  beheading  of  an  infamous  bishop  (p. 
391)  ;  speaks  to  a  young  man  about  to  commit  sin 
(p.  559),  etc.,  etc.,  almost  ad  injinifum. 

Blessed  Mary  herself  cools  the  cheek  of  a  dying  de- 
votee with  a  fan  (p.  110)  ;  with  a  cloth  wipes  the  death 
damp  from  the  brow  of  "  a  good  woman  "  dying  in  a 
home  of  poverty  (p.  112) ;  secures  from  the  devil  a 
paper  given  by  an  abandoned  sinner  containing  a  writ- 
ten renunciation  of  God  (p.  198) ;  furnishes  a  letter  to 
one  of  her  ardent  admirers  (the  same  lady  had  enter- 
tamed  her  admirers  all  night  in  "rooms  richly  fur- 
nished and  perfumed  as  with  an  odor  of  paradise  !  ") 
(p.  454)  ;  burns  an  inn  in  which  her  children  were 
sinning  (five  of  the  rescued  afhrm,  on  oath,  that  Mary, 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  lighted  the  flames)  (p.  659) ;  by  a 
"  second  revelation  of  herself  restores  sight  to  one  eye  of 
a  man  who  had  regularly  bargained  with  her  for  total 
blindness,  if  he  might  be  permitted  twice  to  behold 
her  (p.  512). 


IGG  FRAUD:— MIRACLES. 

Bj  the  assistance  of  Our  Lady,  an  ape  becomes  and 
declares  liimself  a  devil,  and  at  the  command  of  a 
priest  goes  through  a  hole  in  the  wall,  which  hole  no 
mechanical  genius  could  fill  up  (p.  251) ;  a  man  in 
spirit  form  comes  to  his  friend  and  says.  My  dead 
body  is  in  the  street,  my  soul  in  purgatory,  and  I  am 
liere  (p.  265)  ;  at  the  repetition  of  the  magic  rosary 
devils  have  been  known  to  leave  wretched  men 
(p.  683).  There,  that  is  a  dose  sufficient  for  any  Pro- 
testant stomach !  If  any,  however,  desire  more,  there 
are  plenty  in  the  "  Glories  of  Mary."  Don't  the 
immutable  Church  need  the  dogma  of  infallibility? 
Barring  the  sense  of  shame  for  our  race  produced  by 
such  exhibitions  of  moral  depravity  and  mental  weak- 
ness, these  "examples"  are  more  interesting  and  cer- 
tainly far  more  startling  than  the  most  exciting  modern 
novel.  And  they  are  published  as  truth,  approved  by 
Papal  inerrancy,  earnestly  commended  to  the  devout, 
believed  by  Papists !  They  are  sold  in  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and  all  large  towns — sold  in 
this  nineteenth  century,  and  in  educated,  enlightened, 
civilized.  Christianized  America !  Can  a  republic  long 
rest  secure  on  a  foundation  of  superstition?  Judged 
by  such  literature,  the  present  must  indeed  be  the 
world's  midnight  of  ignorance!  Did  the  dark  ages 
produce  anything  more  grossly  absurd  ?  And  Rome, 
anathematizes  the  times  because  there  are  some  men  so 
heretical,  so  unprecedentedly  blasphemous  as  to  make 
jest  of  such  absurdities. 


FRA  UD  .—MIR  A  CLES.  167 

May  we  not  apply  to  Popery  the  words  of  Pollok  ? 

"  The  hypocrite  in  mask !  He  was  a  mau 
Who  stole  the  livery  of  the  court  of  heaveu 
To  serve  the  devil  in." 

If  any  desire  to  see  the  account  of  a  recent  miracle, 
with  all  the  embellishments,  drawn  out  ''  ad  naiLseam" 
we  refer  them  to  '•  Our  Lady  of  Lourdes,  by  Henri 
Lasserre,"  found  in  the  Catholic  World  (September, 
October,  November,  December,  1870,  and  January, 
February,  March,  and  April,  1871). 

At  a  grotto  near  Lourdes,  in  France,  a  poor,  simple- 
minded,  invalid,  fourteen-year-old  shepherdess,  who 
could  neither  read  nor  write,  knowing  almost  nothing 
except  the  superstitious  use  of  Mary's  rosary,  had,  we 
are  gravely  informed,  daily  visions,  for  more  than  two 
weeks,  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  gave  accurate,  full, 
elegant  descriptions  of  her  dress,  features  and  beauty. 
The  honored  recipient  of  Mary's  favors,  Bernadette, 
so  named  for  her  patron,  St.  Bernard,  saw  the  heavenly 
vision,  though  no  single  observer  of  a  vast  crowd  was 
able  to  see  anything  save  the  barren  rock  and  the 
climbing  eglantine;  and  heard  words  from  lips  seem- 
ingly lisping  prayers  for  jDoor  sinners  as  her  fingers 
counted  the  beads  of  her  glittering  rosary.  After  days 
of  ecstatic  beholding,  this  wonderful  message  was  sent 
from  the  "  Queen  of  Heaven  and  Earth,"  by  the  vision- 
beholding  Bernadette,  to  the  priests — those  prudent 
men  who  received  the  current  rumors  of  the  wildly 
excited  populace  with  dignified  silence,  looks  of  disap- 


168  FR-^  '^'D  :—MIRA  CLES. 

jDrobation,  and  words  of  suspicion — "  Go  tell  the  priests 
that  I  leant  a  chapel  hiillt  on  this  spotT  When  these 
words  were  spoken  in  ordinary  tone,  in  the  midst  of 
several  thousand  breathless  spectators  of  Bernadette's 
transfiguration,  no  ear  caught  the  sound  save  that  of 
the  little,  ignorant,  simple-minded,  pale-faced,  nervous 
peasant  girl. 

At  a  subsequent  vision  this  command  w^as  received  : 
'•  Go  drink  and  wash  at  the  fountain,  and  eat  of  the 
herbs  growing  at  its  side."  Fountain? — there  w^as 
none,  Bernadette,  however,  essaying  obedience,  walked 
on  her  knees  over  the  rocks,  and  into  the  furthest 
corner  of  the  grotto.  As  she  dug  up  the  earth  with 
her  hands  a  fountain  sprung  up.  This,  which  has 
since  flowed  unceasingly  for  thirteen  years  and  wrought 
miracles  innumerable,  possessed,  from  its  first  outgush- 
ing,  miraculous  healing  properties.  A  quarryman, 
rubbing  his  blinded  ej'e  with  the  first  water  that  filled 
the  cavity,  and  kneeling  in  prayer  to  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  "  immediately  uttered  a  loud  cry  and  began  to 
tremble  in  violent  excitement."  ''  Cured."  "  Impossi- 
ble," said  the  physician.  "  It  is  the  Holy  Virgin," 
said  the  devout  Catholic.  Many  arose  from  beds  to 
which  they  had  been  confined  for  years.  Paralyzed 
limbs  were  instantaneously  restored.  Sores  were  cured. 
Deaf  ears  were  unstopped.  A  dying  child — the  shroud 
already  made — plunged  by  its  mother  into  "the  icy 
cold  fountain,"*  and  held  there  for  more  than  fifteen 

*  It  was  February,  1858. 


JF'RA  UD  :—MIRA  CLES.  169 

minutes,  was  completely  restored  to  health,  and  the 
next  day,  in  the  absence  of  the  parents,  ''  left  the 
cradle  and  walked  around  the  room,"  its  first  effort  at 
walking  !  Remarkable  baby  !  Wonderful  water !  One 
morning,  says  the  author,  twenty  thousand,  many  of 
whom  had  spent  the  previous  night  at  the  grotto,  wit- 
nessed, in  rapt  silence,  the  ecstasy  of  the  little  saint. 
Even  if  the  waters  had  wrought  no  miracles,  supersti- 
tious faith  mi^ht  have  manufactured  at  least  one  or  two 
tolerably  decent  counterfeits.  So  we  think.  So  evidently 
thought  the  Editor  of  the  Ere  Imperiale,  a  local  paper. 

"  Do  not  be  surprised,"  said  the  organ  of  the  Pre- 
fecture (Catholic),  "if  there  are  still  some  people  who 
persist  in  maintaining  that  the  child  is  a  saint,  and 
gifted  with  supernatural  powers.  These  people  be- 
lieve the  following  stories  : — 

"  1st.  That  a  dove  hovered  the  day  before  yesterday 
over  the  head  of  the  child  during  the  whole  time  of 
the  ecstasy.* 

"2d.  That  she  breathed  upon  the  eyes  of  a  little 
blind  girl,  and  restored  her  sight. 

"  3d.  That  she  cured  another  child  whose  arm  was 
paralyzed. 

"4th.  That  a  peasant  of  the  Valley  of  Campan, 
having  declared  that  he  could  not  be  duped  by  such 
scenes  of  hallucination,  his  sins  had,  in  answer  to  her 
prayers,  been  turned  into  snakes,  which  had  devoured 
him,  not  leaving  a  trace  of  his  impious  body. 

*  March  4tli,  A.  d.  1858. 


170  FRAUD:— MIRACLES. 

"  This,  then,  is  what  we  have  come  to,  but  what  we 
would  not  have  come  to  if  the  parents  of  this  girl  had 
followed  the  advice  of  the  physicians,  who  recom- 
mended that  she  should  be  sent  to  the  lunatic 
asylum  " 


CHAPTER    VI. 

IDOLATRY. 

^•^[T  was  against  the  worship  of  idols  that  the  early 
r^il    Christians  most  solemnly  and  most  determmedly 
34^   protested.    "  We  Christians,"  says  Origen,  "  have 
nothing  to  do  with  images,  on  account  of  the 
second  commandment ;   the  first  thing  we  teach  those 
who  come  to  us  is  to  despise  idols  and  images ;  it  being 
the  peculiar  characteristic  of  the  Christian  religion  to 
raise  our  minds  above  images,  agreeably  to  the  law 
which   God  himself  has  given  to  mankind."  '*'     And 
Gibbon  affirms,  "  The  primitive  Christians  were  pos- 
sessed with  an  unconquerable  repugnance  to  the  use 
and  abuse  of  images."  f     Again  :    "  The  public  worship 
of  the  Christians  was  uniformly  simple  and  spiritual." 

Most  cunningly  was  this  spirituality  undermined  and 
idolatry  substituted.  In  the  early  part  of  the  fourth 
century,  after  the  subversion  of  Paganism,  some  bishops 
began  to  encourage  the  use  of  pictures  and  images  as 
aids  to  the  devotion  and  instruction  of  the  ignorant. 
Even  till  the  time  of  Gregory  it  was  the  prevalent 
opinion  that,  if  used  at  all,  images  must  be  used  merely 

*  "  Origen  against  Celsus,"  lib.  v.  7. 
t  "Decline  and  Fall,"  chap.  xlix.  ; 

171 


172  IDOLATRY. 

as  books  for  the  unlearned.  The  Pontiff,  however,  so 
far  encouraged  their  erection  that  almost  every  church 
in  the  west  could  boast  of  at  least  one.  Before  these 
the  multitude  soon  learned  to  bow  5  to  these  they  of- 
fered prayers. 

So  disgusting  became  this  growing  superstition  that 
in  700  the  Council  of  Constantinople  solemnly  con- 
demned the  use  of  images,  and  ordered  their  expulsion 
from  the  churches.  But  in  713  Pope  Constantine  pro- 
nounced an  anathema  against  those  who  "  deny  that 
veneration  to  the  holy  images  which  the  Church  has 
appointed."  A  few  years  later  began  that  famous  con- 
troversy between  the  Emperor  Leo  and  Gregory  II. 
which  continued  to  distract  the  Church  for  more  than 
fifty  years.  The  Emperor  and  his  successors,  Constan- 
tine v.,  and  Leo  IV.,  strenuously  endeavored  to  restore 
Christianity  to  its  primitive  purity.  Gregory  II.,  and 
the  Popes  succeeding  him,  with  a  zeal  bordering  on 
fanaticism,  undertook  a  defence  of  image-worship.  The 
Emperors  were  charged  with  ignorance,  rudeness,  pride, 
contempt  of  the  authority  of  the  sovereign  Pontiff,  and 
opposition  to  the  teachings  of  the  Church.  Defying  the 
wrath  of  the  Pope,  however,  and  encouraged  by  the 
unanimous  decision  of  the  Seventh  Greek  Council  (a.  d. 
754),  which  condemned  idolatry,  Constantine  V.  burned 
the  images  and  demolished  the  walls  of  the  churches 
bearing  painted  representations  of  Christ,  of  the  Virgin, 
and  of  the  saints.  The  efforts  of  his  son,  Leo  IV., 
were  directed  to  the  same  end.     But  the  Emperor  dying 


IDOLATRY.  173 

suddenly — as  is  generally  supposed  from  the  effects  of 
poison  administered  by  his  wife,  Irene — the  contest  ended 
in  a  victory  for  the  image-worshippers.  Irene,  prompted 
by  a  desire  to  occupy  the  throne,  ordered  her  own 
son,  Constantine  VI.,  to  be  seized  and  his  eyes  put  out. 
The  order  was  faithfully  executed,  and  with  such  cru- 
elty that  the  unhappy  son  almost  immediately  expired. 
To  this  wretched  and  terribly  brutal  woman  Papists 
are  deeply  indebted.  Assisted  by  Pope  Adrian,  she  ex- 
tended idolatry  throughout  the  entire  empire,  and  in 
787  summoned  a  Council  at  Nice,  which  decreed  ^'That 
holy  images  of  the  cross  should  be  consecrated,  and  put 
on  the  sacred  vessels  and  vestments,  and  upon  walls 
and  boards,  in  private  houses  and  in  public  ways.  And 
especially  that  there  should  be  erected  images  of  the 
Lord  God,  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  of  our  blessed 
Lady,  the  Mother  of  God,  of  the  venerable  angels,  and 
of  all  the  saints.  And  that  whosoever  should  presume 
to  think  or  teach  otherwise,  or  to  throw  away  any 
painted  books,  or  the  figure  of  the  cross,  or  any  image, 
or  picture,  or  any  genuine  relics  of  the  martjTS,  they 
should,  if  bishops  or  clergymen,  be  deposed,  or  if  monks 
or  laymen,  be  excommunicated."  * 

Owing  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  Irene,  Papists  have  en- 
deavored to  defend  her  monstrous  wickedness.  Unable 
to  deny  the  cruelties  practised  upon  her  son,  they  at- 
tempt to  justify  them,  nay,  even  to  commend  them, 
applauding  her  for  so  far  overcoming  the  feelings  of 

*  Plotina's  "  Lives  of  the  Popes." 


174  IDOLATRY. 

humanity,  tlirougli  love  for  the  true  Church  and  its 
honored  doctrines,  that  she  could  sacrifice  her  own  son, 
who  stood  in  the  way  of  her  aiding  in  the  establishment 
of  image-worship.* 

From  that  day  to  the  present  idolatry  has  been  one 
of  Rome's  chief  characteristics.  It  is  now  so  intimately 
interwoven  with  her  forms  of  worship  as  to  defy  all 
opposition.  Most  probably  it  will  hold  its  place  until 
the  prophecy  of  John  finds  fulfilment,  ''Bahi/Io7i,  the 
great,  is  fallen,  is  fallen.'' 

Nor  are  their  images  confined  to  churches  and 
chapels.  They  are  also  set  up  by  the  road-side.  In 
Popish  countries,  and  especially  in  Italy,  these  images, 
fit  successors  of  the  old  Roman  gods  that  presided  over 
the  highways,  are  frequently  to  be  met  with.  As  the 
traveller  passes,  he  uncovers  his  head,  and  reverently 
bows,  or,  time  permitting,  turns  aside  to  kneel  before 
the  idol  and  implore  a  blessing.  Did  ever  heathenism 
more  unblushingly  ofier  insult  to  common  sense  ? 

As  our  space  will  not  permit  an  extended  reference 
to  the  monstrous  falsehoods,  intrigues,  and  deceptions 
by  which  the  priesthood  succeeded  in  securing  for  these 
images  the  devout  homage  of  the  multitude,  and  the 
treasury  of  the  Church  the  rich  gifts  so  much  coveted, 

*  "An  execrable  crime,"  says  Baronius,  "had  she  not  been 
prompted  to  it  by  zeal  for  justice.  On  that  consideration  she  even 
deserved  to  be  commended  for  what  she  did.  In  more  ancient  times, 
the  hands  of  parents  were  armed,  by  God's  command,  against  their 
children  worshipping  strange  gods,  and  they  who  killed  them  were 
commended  by  Moses." 


IDOLATRY.  175 

"sve  must  content  ourselves  with  calling  attention  to  one 
or  two  specimens.  In  the  "  Master  Key  to  Popery," 
by  Anthony  Gavin,  we  have  an  historical  account  of 
the  "  Virgin  of  Pillar,"  an  image  religiously  worshipped 
in  Saragossa,  Spain.  The  Apostle  St.  James,  the  ac- 
count informs  us,  with  seven  new  converts,  came  to 
preach  the  Gospel  in  Saragossa.  While  sleeping  upon 
the  brink  of  a  river,  an  army  of  angels  came  down  from 
heaven  with  an  image  on  a  pillar,  which  they  placed 
on  the  ground,  saying,  "  This  image  of  Our  Queen  shall 
be  the  defence  of  this  city.  By  her  help  it  shall  be  re- 
duced to  your  Master's  sway.  As  she  is  to  protect 
you,  you  must  build  a  decent  chapel  for  her."  The 
order  was  obeyed.  A  chapel  was  built,  which  became 
the  richest  in  Spain.* 

The  crucifix  of  St.  Salvador,  when  there  is  great 
need  of  rain  and  the  barometer  indicates  a  speedy 
chancre,  is  sometimes  carried  through  the  streets,  while 

*  For  "  Our  Lady  of  Pillar  "  a  chaplain  was  provided,  whose  busi- 
ness it  was  to  dress  the  image  every  morning.  Through  him,  the 
Virgin  Lady  once  addressed  a  solemn  admonition  to  the  people  of 
Saragossa,  accusing  them  of  illiberality,  want  of  devotion,  and  the 
basest  ingratitude,  and  expressing  her  determination  to  resign  her 
government  to  Lucifer,  unless  the  people  should  come  for  the  space 
of  fifteen  days,  every  day  with  gifts,  tears,  and  penitence,  to  appease 
her  wrath  and  secure  a  return  of  her  favor.  They  were  exhorted  to 
come  with  prodigal  hands  and  true  hearts,  lest  the  Prince  of  Darkness 
should  be  appointed  to  reign  over  them.  They  were  also  assured  that 
from  this  sentence  there  was  no  appeal,  not  even  to  the  tribunal  of 
the  ;Most  High.  This  device,  enriching  the  Church,  nearly  beggared 
the  inhabitants  of  the  threatened  city. 


176  ID0LATR7. 

the  accompanying  priests  sing  the  litany  and  repeat 
prayers,  imploring  rain.  This  well-timed  ceremony  is 
almost  invariably  followed,  within  a  few  days,  by  rain. 
.  All  exclaim,  "A  miracle  y^rrought  by  our  Holy  Crucifix." 
Not  to  multiply  instances,  we  have  the  authority  of 
Pope  Gregory  for  affirming  that  wonders  and  miracles 
wrought  by  images  are  by  no  means  rare.  In  an  epistle 
addressed  to  the  Empress  Constantina,  who  had  re- 
quested from  him  the  head  of  St.  Paul,  for  the  purpose 
of  enshrining  it  in  the  church  which  she  was  erecting 
in  his  honor,  the  successor  of  St.  Peter  says  :  "  Great 
sadness  has  possessed  me,  because  you  have  enjoined 
upon  me  those  things  which  I  neither  can,  nor  dare 
do ;  for  the  bodies  of  the  holy  Apostles,  Peter  and  Paul, 
are  so  resplendent  with  miracles  and  terrific  prodigies 
in  their  own  churches,  that  no  one  can  approach  them 
without  awe,  even  for  the  purpose  of  adoring  them. 
.  .  .  .  The  superior  of  the  place  having  found 
some  bones  that  were  not  at  all  connected  with  that 
tomb ;  and  having  presumed  to  disturb  them  and  re- 
move them  to  some  other  place,  he  was  visited  by  cer- 
tain frightful  apparitions  and  died  suddenly.  .  .  . 
Be  it  known  to  you  that  it  is  the  custom  of  the  Ro- 
mans, when  they  give  any  relics,  not  to  venture  to 
touch  any  portion  of  the  body;  only  they  put  into  a 
box  a  piece  of  linen,  which  is  placed  near  the  holy 
body;  then  it  is  withdrawn  and  shut  up  with  due  vene- 
ration in  the  church  which  is  to  be  dedicated,  and  as 
many  prodigies   are  wrought   by  it    as  if  the   bodies 


IDOLATRY.  177 

themselves  h<ad  been  carried  thither But 

that  jour  religious  desire  may  not  be  wholly  frustrated, 
I  will  hasten  to  send  you  some  parts  of  those  chains 
which  St.  Paul  wore  on  his  neck  and  hands,  if  indeed 
I  shall  succeed  in  getting  off  any  filings  from  them."  * 

So,  dear  Empress  Constantina,  be  it  known  to  you, 
that  Rome  will  not  part  with  the  hen  that  lays  the 
golden  e^g,  nor  even  allow  you,  much  less  the  infidel 
world,  to  examine  the  nest.  These  holy  bodies  are  sur- 
rounded by  a  more  sacred  divinity  than  doth  hedge  a 
king.  Death  is  the  penalty  of  approaching  them  un- 
bidden by  the  infallible  Pope.  He  will  sell  you  relics 
— linen  rags  and  iron  filings — which  will  work  as 
great  wonders  as  the  head  you  so  much  covet.  No 
doubtofit!!! 

Notwithstanding  the  distinction  made  by  Eomanists 
between  absolute  and  relative,  proper  and  improper 
worship,  between  latria,  dulia,  and  hyperdulia,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  they  offer  to  these  images  an  idolatrous 
homage.  Devised  evidently  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
warding  off  the  charge  so  frequently  brought  against 
them,  of  offering  to  pictures,  images  and  relics  that 
adoration  due  to  Deity  alone,  this  hair-splitting  distinc- 
tion has  no  influence  in  modifying  the  worship  of  the 
vast  mass  of  Rome's  devotees.  The  images  are  the 
real  objects  worshipped. 

One   of  the    ablest    expounders  of  Papal   doctrines 

*  "  Gregory's  Epistles,"  lib.  iv.  epist.  30.  A  large  part  of  the  origi- 
nal may  be  found  in  "Greseler,"  vol.  i.  p.  350. 
12 


178  IDOLATRY. 

says : — "  From  God,  as  its  source,  the  worship  with 
which  we  honor  rehcs,  originates,  and  to  God,  as  its 
end,  it  ultimately  and  terminatively  reverts."  As- 
suredly the  worship  which  originates  with  God,  and 
returns  ultimately  to  God,  must  be  that  true  and 
proper  homage  due  to  him  alone. 

In  proof  that  Papists  offer  adoration  to  images,  we 
refer  to  the  custom  of  serenading,  on  Christmas  morn- 
ing, all  the  statues  of  the  Holy  Virgin  in  the  streets 
of  Rome.  The  reason  assigned  for  this  grand  musical 
entertainment  is  that  the  Virgin  is  a  great  lover  and 
an  excellent  judge  of  good  music. 

A  recent  visitor  to  the  church  erected  about  the 
house  where  it  is  said  Blessed  Mary  was  born,  saw 
miserable  women,  very  personifications  of  gross  super- 
stition, dragging  themselves  on  their  knees  around  the 
venerated  building,  counting  beads,  kissing  the  marble 
foundations,  repeating  prayers  before  the  idol,  and  order- 
ing masses  to  be  said  for  the  benefit  of  themselves  and 
friends.  Disgusting  beggars,  trafficking  in  superstition, 
clamorously  promise  to  supplicate  the  idol  on  behalf  of 
those  who  favor  them  with  alms.  Dealers  in  the  im- 
plements of  devotion  hawk  their  sacred  wares,  rosaries, 
pictures,  medals,  and  casts  of  the  Madonna. 

Certainly  no  one  except  an  idolater  will  deny  that  real 
homage  is  offered  when  the  worshipper,  bowing  before 
an  image,  hymns  its  praises,  and  to  it  offers  his  prayers. 
Papists  indeed  say,  "  We  do  not  worship  the  image, 
but  the  personage  represented,  not  the  statue,  but  the 


IDOLATRY.  179 

Virgin,  not  the  cross,  but  the  Saviour  suspended 
thereon."  Gregory  III.,  in  writing  to  the  Emperor 
Leo,  says : — "  You  say  we  adore  stones,  walls,  and 
boards.  It  is  not  so,  my  Lord;  but  these  symbols 
make  us  recollect  the  persons  whose  names  they  bear, 
and  exalt  our  grovelling  minds."  Intelligent  Pagans 
have  ever  rendered  precisely  the  same  excuse.*  They 
who  knelt  before  the  shrine  of  Jupiter,  claimed  that 
they  were  worshipping  the  invisible  and  spiritual  by 
means  of  the  visible  and  material.  Those  in  India 
who  now  worship  the  images  of  Gaudama,  do  the  same. 
Are  we  then  to  believe  that  there  are  not,  never  have 
been,  and  never  can  be,  persons  so  degraded  as  to  be 
properly  denominated  idolaters  ?  Have  all  who  em- 
ployed images  been  capable  of  fully  appreciating  this 
sentimental  distinction  ?  Has  not  even  superstitious 
ignorance    worshipped    the    seen   and    forgotten    the 

*  Plutarch,  in  explaining  the  worship  of  Egypt's  two  most  famous 
deities,  Osiris  and  Isis,  holds  the  following  language: — "Philoso- 
phers honor  the  image  of  God  wherever  they  find  it,  even  in  inani- 
mate beings,  and  consequently  more  in  those  which  have  life.  We 
are  therefore  to  approve,  not  the  worshippers  of  these  animals,  but 
those  who,  by  their  means,  ascend  to  the  Deity  ;  they  are  to  be  con- 
sidered as  so  many  mirrors,  which  nature  holds  forth,  and  in  which 
the  Supreme  Being  displays  himself  in  a  wonderful  manner  ;  or  as  so 
many  instruments,  which  he  makes  use  of  to  manifest  outwardly  his 
incomprehensible  wisdom.  Should  men,  therefore,  for  the  embellish- 
ing of  statues,  amass  together  all  the  gold  and  precious  stones  in  the 
world,  the  worship  must  not  be  referred  to  the  statues,  for  the  Deity 
does  not  exist  in  colors  artfully  disposed,  nor  in  frail  matter  destitute 
of  sense  and  motion." 


180  IDOLATRY. 

unseen  ?  Admitting  that  in  the  Papal  Church  only  the 
less  gross  idolatry  exists,  is  this  justifiable  ?  Is  it  not 
condemned  in  Scripture  ?  The  prohibition  reads : — 
"  Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  any  graven  image,  or 
any  likeness  of  any  thing T  There  has  been  given  us, 
in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  a  visible  image  of  the 
invisible  God.  Bowing  before  him,  and  crying,  ''My 
Lord  and  my  God,"  we  worship  the  seen,  God  in  human 
form,  ''  the  Jllceness  of  the  Fatlier^^  "  tlie  express  image 
of  his  person,''  and  yet  are  not  idolaters.  Having  so 
far  accomodated  himself  to  the  constitution  of  our 
nature,  he  allows  no  other  object  to  come  between  him- 
self and  the  penitent  heart. 

Among  Rome's  numerous  idolatries,  none  certainly 
is  more  conspicuous,  none  more  ardently  advocated, 
none  less  inexcusable  than  the  adoration  offered  to  the 
Virgin.  Her  mere  titles,  as  found  in  that  ever-famous 
book,  "The  Glories  of  Mary,"*  and  in  her  litany,  a 
solemn  supplicatory  prayer,  would  fill  more  than  a 
page  of  our  present  volume.  She  is  denominated 
Queen  of  heaven,  of  earth,  of  mercy,  of  angels,  of  patri- 
archs, of  prophets,  of  apostles,  of  martyrs,  of  confessors, 
of  virgins,  and  of  all  saints;  Mother  of  God,  of  peni- 
tents, and  especially  of  obdurate  and  abandoned  sin- 
ners ;  Ravisher  of  heart,  finder  of  grace,  hope  of  salva- 
tion,  defence  of  the  faithful,  helper  of  sinners;    our 

*  Translated  from  the  Italian  of  St.  Alpbonsus  Liguori.  Xew 
York  :  Cath.  Pub.  House  ;  approved  of  4-  John,  Archbishop,  January 
21,  1S52. 


IDOLATRY.  181 

only  advocate,  our  refuge,  our  protection,  our  health, 
our  life,  our  hope,  our  soul,  our  heart,  our  mistress,  our 
lad  J,  our  loving  mother;  secure  salvation,  Redeemer 
of  the  world,  Virgin  of  virgins,  Mother  undefiled,  un- 
violated,  most  pure,  most  chaste,  most  amiable,  most 
admirable,  most  prudent,  most  venerable,  most  power- 
ful, most  merciful,  most  Mthful;  mirror  of  justice,  seat 
of  wisdom,  cause  of  joy,  spiritual  vessel,  vessel  of 
honor,  mystical  rose,  tower  of  David,  house  of  gold, 
ark  of  the  covenant,  gate  of  heaven,  morning  star, 
comfort  of  the  afflicted,  etc.,  etc. 

Liguori,  since  enrolled  as  a  saint,  mainly  as  the 
reward  of  his  untiring  efforts  to  supplant  love  of  the 
Creator  by  love  of  the  creature,  boldly  and  unquali- 
fiedly asserts  that  Mary  co-operated  in  the  original 
work  of  redemption  : — 

"  When  God  saw  the  great  desire  of  Mary  to  devote  herself  to 
the  salvation  of  men,  he  ordained  that  hy  the  sacrifice  and  offer- 
ing of  the  life  of  this  same  Jesus,  she  might  co-operate  with  him  in 
the  work  of  our  salvation,  and  thus  become  mother  of  our  souls." 
(P.  43,  American  Ed.) 

"  God  could  indeed,  as  St.  Anselm  asserts,  create  the  world  from 
nothing ;  but  when  it  Avas  lost  by  sin,  he  could  not  redeem  it 
without  the  co-operation  of  Mary."     (P.  186.) 

He  also  asserts  that  Mary  is  the  only  fountain  of 
life  and  salvation.  "  God  has  ordained  that  all  graces 
should  come  to  us  through  the  hands  of  Mary." 
(P.  13.)  And  how  is  this  proved?  In  true  Catholic 
style,  by  authority.  St.  Augustine  mentions  Mary's 
name  and  affirms,  "  All  the  tongues  of  men  would  not 


182  IDOLATRY. 

be  sufficient  to  praise  her  as  she  deserves."  St.  Bona- 
venture  declares,  "  those  who  are  devoted  to  pubhshing 
'  The  Glories  of  Mary'  are  secure  of  paradise,"  Did 
these  fathers  ever  make  these'  assertions?  And  if 
they  did,  is  assertion  proof?  These  two  questions  re- 
morselessly pressed  would  leave  all  Liguori's  fine-spun 
arguments  floating  together  distractedly  in  an  ocean  of 
balderdash.  And  here  is  a  second  kind  of  proof, 
Rome's  clinching  argument,  a  miracle — each  section  of 
the  book  has  one,  besides  the  eighty-nine  additional. 
In  the  revelation  of  St,  Bridget,  we  are  told  that  Bishop 
Emingo,  being  accustomed  to  begin  his  sermons  with 
the  praises  of  Mary,  the  Virgin  one  day  appeared  to 
St.  Bridget,  and  said :  "  Tell  that  bishop  I  will  be  his 
mother,  and  he  shall  die  a  good  death."  He  died  like 
a  saint.  Now,  therefore,  all  you  Catholics  bow  the 
knee  and  repeat  one  of  St.  Liguori's  prayers  to  the 
Virgin.  You  have  a  fine  selection  from  which  to 
choose,  well  nigh  a  hundred.  But  the  chief  proof 
here,  as  elsewhere,  is  assertion.  Here  are  a  few 
specimens : — 

"  The  kingdom  of  God  consisting  of  justice  and  mercy,  the  Lord 
has  divided  it :  he  has  reserved  the  kingdom  of  justice  for  himself, 
and  he  has  granted  the  kingdom  of  mercy  to  Mary,  ordaining  that 
all  the  mercies  which  are  dispensed  to  men  shoukl  pass  through  the 
hands  of  Mary,  and  should  be  bestowed  according  to  her  good 
pleasure."     (Pp.  27,  28.) 

"  St.  Bernard  asks :  *  Why  does  the  Church  name  Mary  Queen 
of  Mercy  ?'  And  answers :  '  Because  we  believe  that  she  opens  the 
depths  of  the  mercy  of  God,  to  whom  she  will,  when  she  will,  and  as 


IDOLATRY.  183 

she  loill ;  so  that  not  eveu  the  vilest  sinner  is  lost  if  Mary  protects 
him:  "     (P.  31.) 

"  In  Mary  we  shall  find  every  hope.  ...  In  a  word,  we  shall 
find  in  Mary  life  and  eternal  salvation^     (Pp.  173,  174.) 

"  For  this  reason,  too,  she  is  called  the  gate  of  heaven  by  the 
Holy  Church.  ...  St.  Bouaventure,  moreover,  says  that  ]SIary  is 
called  the  gate  of  heaven,  because  no  one  can  enter  heaven  if  he 
does  not  pass  through  Mary,  who  is  the  door  of  it"     (P.  177.) 

"  Richard,  of  St.  Laurence,  says:  '  Our  salvation  is  in  the  hands 
of  Mary.'  .  .  .  Ca?slan  absolutely  affirms  that  the  salvation  of  the 
xvlwle  xcorld  depends  upon  the  favor  and  protection  of  Mary." 
(P.  190.) 

"  O  how  many,  exclaims  the  Abbot  of  Celles,  who  merit  to  be 
condemned  by  the  Divine  justice,  are  saved  by  the  mercy  of  Mary! 
for  she  is  the  treasure  of  God,  and  the  treasurer  of  all  graces ; 
therefore  it  is,  that  our  salvation  is  in  her  hands."     (P.  300.) 

"  Thou  hast  a  merit  that  has  no  limits,  and  an  entire  power  over 
all  creatures.  Thou  art  the  mother  of  God,  the  mistress  of  the 
world,  the  Queen  of  heaven.  Thou  art  the  dispenser  of  all  graces, 
the  glory  of  the  Holy  Church."     (P.  673.)     [The  italics  are  ours.] 

He  assures  his  readers  that  Mary  is  omnipotent : — 

"  Do  not  say  that  thou  canst  not  aid  me,  for  I  know  that  thou 
art  omnipotent,  and  dost  obtain  whatsoever  thou  desirest  from  God." 
(P.  78.) 

"  Says  St.  Peter  Damian,  '  The  Virgin  has  all  power  in  heaven 
and  on  earth:"     (P.  201.) 

"Yes,  Mary  is  om,nipotent,  adds  Richard,  of  St.  Laurence,  since 
the  Queen,  by  every  law,  must  enjoy  the  same  privileges  as  the 
King.  .  .  .  And  St.  Antoninus  says :  '  God  has  placed  the  whole 
Church,  not  only  under  the  patronage,  but  also  under  the  dominion 
of  Mary.'"     (P.  203.) 

Infallibility  has  also  approved  these  assertions  of  her 
canonized  saint : — 


184  IDOLATRY. 

"  Xot  only  Most  Holy  Mary  is  Queen  of  heaven  and  of  the 
saints,  but  also  of  hell  and  of  the  devils ;  for  she  has  bravely  tri- 
umphed over  them  by  her  virtues.  From  the  beginning  of  the 
world  God  predicted  to  the  infernal  serpent  the  victory  and  th.e 
empire  which  our  Queen  -would  obtain  over  him,  when  he  an- 
nounced to  him  that  a  woman  would  come  into  the  world  who 
should  conquer  him."  (P.  155.)  "  Mary,  then,  is  this  great  and 
strong  woman  who  has  conquered  the  devil,  and  crushed  his  head 
by  subduing  his  pride,  as  the  Lord  added,  '  She  shall  crush  thy 
head.'  .  .  .  The  Blessed  Virgin,  by  conquering  the  devil,  brought 
us  UJe  and  light"     (P.  156.) 

"'Very  glorious,  O  Mar}',  and  wonderful,'  exclaims  St.  Bonaven- 
ture,  'is  thy  great  name.  Those  who  are  mindful  to  utter  it  at  the 
hour  of  death  have  nothing  to  fear  from  hell,  for  the  devils  at  once 
abandon  the  soul  when  they  hear  the  name  of  Mary.'"     (P.  163.) 

Greater  blasphemy  still !  Liguori  affirms  that  God 
the  Father  is  under  obligation  to  Mary,  and  cheerfully 
obeys  her  commands  : — 

"  St.  Bernardine,  of  Sienna,  does  not  hesitate  to  say  that  all  obey 
the  commands  of  Mary,  even  God  himself."     (P.  202.) 

"  Rejoice,  O  Mary,  that  a  son  has  fallen  to  thy  lot  as  thy  debtor, 
who  gives  to  all  and  receives  from  none."     (P.  210.) 

"  She  knows  so  well  how  to  appease  Divine  justice  with  her 
tender  and  wise  entreaties,  that  God  himself  blesses  her  for  it,  and, 
as  it  were,  thanks  her,  that  thus  she  restrains  him  from  abandoning 
and  punishing  them  as  they  deserve."     (P.  220.) 

"  Rejoice,  O  mother  and  handmaid  of  God !  rejoice !  rejoice !  thou 
hast  for  a  debtor  him  to  whom  all  creatures  owe  their  being.  "We 
are  all  debtors  to  God,  but  God  is  debtor  to  thee."     (P.  327.) 

We  have  scarcely  heart  to  quote  from  the  petitions 
offered  to  the  Virgin.  In  "  The  Glories  of  Mary,"  one 
prayer,  intended  as  the  beautiful  blossom  or  perfected 


IDOLATRY.  185 

fruit  of  the  finished  argument,  very  appropriately  closes 
each  section.  Besides  these,  there  is  an  interesting 
collection  from  Rome's  most  honored  saints — in  all 
over  three  score.  In  their  books  of  devotion, — the 
number  and  names  of  which  are  exceedingly  perplex- 
ing to  a  poor  heretic, — no  prayers  are  more  frequent, 
none  more  ardent  than  those  ofiered  to  the  Blessed 
Vir2;in,  Mother  of  God  : — 


"o* 


"  O  Mother  of  my  God,  aud  my  Lady  Mary,  as  a  poor  -wounded 
and  loathsome  "vvretch  presents  himself  to  a  great  queen,  I  present 
myself  to  thee,  who  art  the  Queen  of  heaven  and  earth.  From  the 
lofty  throne  on  which  thou  are  seated,  do  not  disdain,  I  pray  thee, 
to  cast  thine  eyes  upon  me,  a  poor  sinner,"  etc.  ("  Glories  of  Mary," 
p.  37.) 

"  I  venerate,  O  most  pure  Virgin  Mary,  thy  most  sacred  heart. 
I,  an  unhappy  sinner,  come  to  thee  with  a  heart  filled  with  all 
uncleanness  and  Avounds.  O  mother  of  mercy,  do  not,  on  this 
account,  despise  me,  but  let  it  excite  thee  to  a  greater  compassion, 
and  come  to  my  help."     (P.  140.) 

"  O  Mother  of  God !  O  Queen  of  angels !  0  hope  of  men, 
listen  to  him  who  invokes  thee,  and  has  recourse  to  thee.  Behold 
me  to-day  prostrate  at  thy  feet ;  I,  a  miserable  slave  of  hell,  conse- 
crate myself  to  thee  as  thy  servant  forever,  offering  myself  to  serve 
and  honor  thee  to  the  utmost  of  my  power  all  the  days  of  my  life." 
(P.  153.) 

"  O  Lady,  I  know  that  thou  dost  glory  in  being  merciful  as 
thou  art  great.  I  know  that  thou  dost  rejoice  in  being  so  rich, 
that  thou  mayest  share  thy  riches  with  us  sinners.  I  know  that 
the  more  wretched  are  those  who  seek  thee,  the  greater  is  thy  desire 
to  help  and  save  them."     (P.  252.) 

"  O  Mary !  O  my  most  dear  mother,  in  what  an  abyss  of  evil 
I  should  find  myself,  if  thou,  with  thy  kind  hand,  hadst  not  so 


186  IDOLATRY. 

often  preserved  me !  Yes,  how  many  years  sliould  I  already  have 
been  in  hell,  if  thou,  with  thy  powerful  prayers,  hadst  not  rescued 
me !  My  grievous  sins  were  hurrying  me  there ;  divine  justice 
had  already  condemned  me;  the  raging  demons  were  waiting  to 
execute  the  sentence,  but  thou  didst  appear,  O  mother,  not  in- 
voked nor  asked  by  me,  and  hast  saved  me."     (P.  266.) 

"  Hearken,  O  most  holy  Virgin,  to  our  prayers,  and  remember 
us.  Dispense  to  us  the  gifts  of  thy  riches,  and  the  abundant  graces 
with  which  thou  art  filled.  All  nations  call  thee  blessed;  the 
whole  hierarchy  of  heaven  blesses  thee,  and  we,  who  are  of  the  terres- 
trial hierarchy,  also  say  to  thee:  Hail,  full  of  grace."     (P.  329.) 

"  Holy  Virgin,  Mother  of  God,  succor  those  who  implore  thy 
assistance.  ...  To  thee  nothing  is  impossible,  for  thou  canst  raise 
even  the  desioairing  to  the  hope  of  salvation.  .  .  .  Thou  dost  love 
us  with  a  love  that  no  other  love  can  surpass.  .  .  .  All  the  treas- 
ures of  the  mercy  of  God  are  in  thy  hands."     (P.  331.) 

For  want  of  space  we  pause.  Scores  of  other  pas- 
sages, equally  or  even  more  revolting,  lie  open  before  us. 
If  any  one  desires  to  see  Romanism  as  it  is,  let  him 
purchase  a  "  Catholic  Manual,"  and  "  The  Glories  of 
Mary."  Thenceforth,  semi-political  papers,  like  The 
Freeman's  Journal  and  Catholic  Register,  and  Jesuit- 
ical pamphlets,  like  the  Catholic  World,  will  charm  in 
vain,  charm  they  never  so  sweetly. 

Did  space  permit,  quotations  innumerable,  as  blas- 
phemous as  those  already  adduced,  could  be  given  from 
"  The  Manual,"  "  The  Key  of  Paradise,"  "  True  Piety," 
"  The  Christian's  Vade  Mecum,"  and  the  several  other 
Catholic  collections  of  prayers.  One,  from  Dr.  John 
Power's  "  Catholic  Manual,"  must  suffice  : — "  Confiding 
in   thy   goodness   and   mercy,    I   cast   myself  at   thy 


IDOLATRY.  187 

sacred  feet,  and  do  most  humbly  supplicate  thee, 
0  Mother  of  the  Eternal  Word,  to  adopt  me  as  thy 
child." 

Bonaventure,  a  Roman  saint  (worshipped  annually, 
July  14  :  see  Catholic  Almanac),  has  actually  gone 
over  most  of  the  Psalms  of  David,  striking  out  the 
words  Lord,  God,  etc.,  and  inserting.  Blessed  Virgin, 
Our  Lady,  Holy  Mother,  etc.  Psalm  ex. : — "  The  Lord 
said  unto  Our  Lady,  sit  thou  on  my  right  hand." 
Psalm  XXV. : — "  Unto  thee,  0  Blessed  Virgin,  do  I  lift  up 
my  soul."  Psalm  xxxi. : — "  Li  thee,  0  Lady,  do  I  put 
my  trust." 

Pope  Pius  IX.,  who  considers  the  dogma  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception  the  glory  of  his  reign,  in  his 
Encyclical  of  November  1, 1870,  condemning  the  usurp- 
ers of  the  States  of  the  Church,  addresses  to  all  devout 
Catholics  this  earnest  exhortation :  "  Going  altogether 
to  the  foot  of  the  throne  of  grace  and  mercy,  let  us 
engage  the  intercession  of  the  Immaculate  Virgin  Mary, 
mother  of  God." 

If  we  may  not  apply  the  word  idolatry  to  these 
abominations  of  Popery,  then,  certainly,  we  have  no 
need  of  the  word.  The  future  Noah  Webster  may  as 
well  omit  it  from  his  dictionary.  Comment,  however, 
is  certainly  uncalled  for.  "And  a  mighty  angel  took 
up  a  stone  like  a  great  millstone,  and  cast  it  into  the 
sea,  saying.  Thus  with  violence  shall  that  great  city 
Babylon  be  thrown  down,  and  shall  be  found  no  more 
at  all."     "  Idolaters  shall  have  their  part  in  the  lake 


188  IDOLATRY. 

which  burneth  with  fire  and  brimstone,  wliich  is  the 
second  death."* 

*  "  These  wise  logicians  (heretics)  of  the  world 
Can  prove  with  reasoning  clear 
How  he,  in  heaven,  will  welcome  those 
Who  scorn  his  Mother  here  !     .     .     . 
And  this  is  reason !  this  is  light ! — 

A  light  that  blinds  the  eyes. 
And  leads  to  the  fire  of  endless  night, 
And  the  worm  that  never  dies." 

The  Catholic  World,  Jan.  No.,  1871,  p.  532. 


CHAPTER     VII. 

WILL-WORSHIP. 

j  ILL- WORSHIP,  self-imposed  restriction,  produc- 
ing excessive  spiritual  pride,  but  leaving  the 
heart  impure  and  the  life  unchanged,  is  evi- 
dently a  noteworthy  characteristic  of  Popery. 
In  Paul's  portraiture  of  the  fatal  apostasy  these  words 
occur :  "  Commanding  to  abstain  from  meats."  This 
passage,  restricted  in  its  application  to  an  organization 
once  truly  Christian,  must  of  necessity  refer  to  the 
Romish  Church;  no  other  has  made  abstinence  from 
animal  food  a  religious  duty.  Popery,  however,  has 
enacted,  that  "  meats  eaten  during  Lent,  or  on  Fri- 
day, pollute  the  body  and  bring  down  eternal  damna- 
tion on  the  souir  And  must  we,  then,  believe,  on  the 
authority  of  a  Church  which  evinces  its  much-vaunted 
infallibility  by  abrogating  its  own  immutable  laws,  that 
something  from  without,  beef-steak,  defiles  the  man  ?  * 
The  proud  occupant  of  Peter's  chair,  by  a  single  word, 
may  reverse  the  teachings  of  the  humble   Nazarene ! 

*  Formerly  it  was  euacted  :  "  No  meat  shall  be  eaten  during  Lent, 
on  Fridays,  or  on  Saturdays."  One  of  the  Popes,  however,  by  a  new 
unalterable  law  suspending  all  previous  immutable  enactments, 
granted  universal  and  perpetual  indulgence  on  Saturdays.  A  Pope's 
word  makes  the  eating  of  animal  food  healthful  or  a  damning  sin  ! 

189 


190  WILL-WORSHIP. 

Must  the  conscientious  Protestant,  his  life  an  epistle 
of  love,  eternally  bear  the  frown  of  an  incensed  God 
because,  alike  on  all  the  days  of  the  week,  he  temper- 
ately enjoyed  the  gifts  of  God's  bounty?  Shall  the 
Catholic,  his  heart  unrenewed,  his  life  a  slander  on  the 
religion  of  the  spotless  Jesus,  find,  in  the  hour  of  death 
and  the  day  of  judgment,  heaven's  favor  richly  be- 
stowed simply  because,  by  an  act  of  will,  he  refused 
animal  food  on  one  day  in  seven  ? 

Even  mortal  sins,  it  seems,  can  be  committed  with 
impunity  if  the  Pope  grants  permission.  The  bull  of 
Clement  XI.,  in  favor  of  those  who  should  assist  Philip 
V.  in  the  holy  war  against  the  heretics,  "  grants  to  all 
who  should  take  this  bull,  that  during  the  year  .... 
they  may  eat  flesh  in  Lent  and  several  other  days  in 

w4iich  it  is  prohibited that  they  may  eat  eggs 

and  things  \vith  milk."  His  Infallibility  makes  known 
when  and  for  what  services  his  subjects  may  eat  eggs 
without  incurring  eternal  damnation.  Important  busi- 
ness !  In  the  world's  midnight.  Popery's  palmiest  days, 
even  heretics  could  purchase  indulgence  to  commit  the 
heinous  sin  of  dining  on  roast  chicken.* 

Paul,  discerning  the  natural  tendency  of  the  human 
heart  to  place  reliance  in  self-imposed  outward  require- 
ments, and  disregard  inward  piety,  affirmed  :  "  Bodily 
exercise  profiteth  little,  but  godliness  is  profitable  unto 
all  things."  The  entire  system  of  penance  is  here  con- 
demned.    Popery,  however,  losing  sight  of  the  very 

*  Price  S2.75. 


WILL-  WORSHIP.  191 

kernel  of  the  Gospel,  that  the  blood  of  Christ  cleanses 
from  all  sin,  has  ever  taught  that  self-chosen  torture, 
will-worship,  is  an  efficient  aid  to  piety — is  in  fact  itself 
piety.  Merit  wrought  by  self-effort  is  by  Eome  con- 
sidered as  acceptable  to  God  as  it  is  pleasing  to  the 
carnal  heart.  Suffering  sent  of  heaven  may  indeed  if 
rightly  received  strengthen  and  deepen  devotion,  but 
self-imposed  penances,  engendering  spiritual  pride,  pro- 
duce a  type  of  piety — if  indeed  it  be  piety — far  more 
resembling  heathen  fanaticism  than  the  self-denial  of 
him  who,  in  obedience  to  the  will  of  the  Father,  offered 
himself  to  death  that  man  might  live.  Between  the 
sufferings  of  Christ  and  those  of  an  anchorite,  who  does 
not  see  a  world-wide  difference?  In  what  respect  a 
senseless,  useless,  hermit  life,  like  that  of  the  sainted 
Simeon,'-'  is  a  copy  of  our  Lord's,  most  certainly  infalli- 
bility alone  can  2:>erceive.  Are  we,  then,  to  believe 
that  useless  reverie  and  Pagan  asceticism,  with  all  their 
disgusting  filth,  ignorance,  beggary,  and  superstition, 
are  services  more  acceptable  to  God  than  feeding  the 
hungry,  clothing  the  naked,  instructing  the  ignorant, 
reforming  the  vicious,  and  living,  in  the  sphere  in  which 
God  has  placed  us,  a  life  of  active  obedience  to  the  pre- 
cepts of  his  "Word  ? 

Another  predicted  characteristic  of  the  fatal  apostasy 

*  This  monk,  who  lived  for  thirty-six  years  on  a  solitary  pillar  in 
the  mountains  of  Syria,  exposed  to  summer's  heat  and  winter's  cold, 
refusing  to  speak  even  with  his  mother,  has  ever  been  considered,  by 
the  Papal  Church,  a  paragon  of  piety. 


192  WILL-  WOR  SHIP. 

was  this  :  "  Forbidding  to  marry."  Among  those  bear- 
ing the  Christian  name,  none,  except  the  Papists,  have 
ever  denied  to  a  certain  class  the  inaUenable  right  of 
matrimony.  They  alone  have  pronounced  that  unholy 
which  God's  Word  declares  ^'honorahle  in  all.''  "A 
bishop,"  says  Paul,  "^'must  be  blameless,  the  husband 
of  one  wife."  This — even  supposing  it  does  not  recom- 
mend marriage  to  the  clergy — certainly  at  least  accords 
them  the  privilege.  Since  the  days  of  Gregory  VII., 
however,  whose  profligate  life  would  have  disgraced 
even  Pagan  Rome,  the  marriage  of  a  priest  has  been 
looked  upon  as  a  sin  incomparably  greater  than  adul- 
tery, or  fornication,  or  even  incest.  A  priest  may  asso- 
ciate with  prostitutes  and  escape  Church  censure,  but 
to  marry  a  virtuous  woman  is,  in  the  casuistry  of  Rome, 
one  of  the  greatest  of  sins.'^ 

This  enforced  celibacy,  there  can  bo  no  doubt,  has 
been  exceedingly  disastrous  to  the  cause  of  morality. 
With  no  desire  of  dwelling  upon  facts  the  bare  recital 
of  which  produce  shuddering  disgust,  we  refer  our  read- 
ers to  the  confession  of  a  priest  in  Gavin's  "  Master-Key 

*  37ie  Catholic  World,  July,  1870,  p.  440,  says  :  "  It  is  against  these 
(licentiousuess  and  low  views  of  marriage)  that  the  Church  opposes 
her  laws  of  marriage,  and  the  absolute  supernatural  cliastity  of  her 
priests  and  religious."  Thereby  she  "  provides  herself  with  angels 
and  ministers  of  grace  to  do  her  will,  accomplish  her  work,  perform 
her  innumerable  acts  of  spiritual  and  corporeal  mercy,  and  be  literally 
the  god-fathers  and  god-mothers  to  the  orphaned  liuman  race,  while 
they  obtain  for  themselves  and  others  countless  riches  of  merit." 
Chastity  supernatural !    Riches  of  merit  countless  ! 


WILL-WORSHIP.  193 

to  Popery,"  p.  35 ;  to  those  of  a  nun,  p.  43 ;  and  to  the 
"Confessions  of  a  Catholic  Priest,"  translated  by  Samuel 
F.  B.  Morse.  From  revelations  frequently  made,  as  in 
the  "  Memoirs  of  Sipio  De  Ricci,"  and  of  "  Lorette,"  it 
would  seem  that  in  some  instances  at  least  monasteries 
and  nunneries  are  dens  of  infamy  in  comparison  with 
which  the  temples  of  ancient  Babylon  were  pure.* 
Even  the  halls  of  the  Holy  Inquisition  were  not  unfre- 
quently  converted  into  harems.  ("  Master-Key  to  Po- 
pery," pp.  169-188.)  In  South  America  and  Spain 
priests  are  among  the  most  regular  frequenters  of  the 
"house  of  her  whose  feet  take  hold  on  hell."  Lest, 
however,  we  may  be  charged  with  slander,  we  close  by 
quoting  the  language  of  St.  Liguori,  certainly  good  au- 
thority with  Papists  :  "Among  the  priests  who  live  in 
the  world,  it  is  rare,  very  rare,  to  fixd  any  that  are 

GOOD." 

As  human  nature  is  much  the  same  everywhere,  is 
it  not  fair  to  charge  this  wickedness — the  extent  of 
which  is  scarcely  conceivable  by  those  who  have  given 
the  subject  no  examination  f — upon  the  scarlet-colored 


*  A  few  months  since  a  motion  was  made,  and  carried  by  a  small 
majority  in  the  British  Parliament,  to  appoint  a  committee  to  "In- 
quire into  Conventual  and  Monastic  Institutions."  It  was  found 
there  were  69  monasteries  and  233  nunneries  in  which  Eorae 
claimed  the  prerogative  to  detain  men  and  women  against  their  will, 
and  even  transport  them  to  convents  upon  the  continent.  Rome  is 
above  law. 

t  A  few  extracts — the  least  objectionable — from  the  confessions  of  a 
priest  ("Master-Key  to  Popery")  we  append:  "I  have  served  my 
parish  sixteen  years.  I  have  in  money  15,000  pistoles,  and  I  have 
13 


194  WILI^WORSUIP. 

Beast  whose  forehead  bears  this  inscription,  "  Mijstery, 
Babylon  the  great,  the  Mother  of  harlots  and  Abomina- 
tions of  the  earth  ?  " 

given  away  more  than  6000.  My  money  is  unlawfully  gotten.  My 
tlioughts  have  been  impure  ever  since  I  began  to  hear  confessions. 
My  actions  have  been  the  most  criminal  of  mankind.  I  have  been 
the  cause  of  many  innocent  deaths.  I  have  procured,  b}'  remedies, 
sixty  abortions.  "\Ye,  six  priests,  did  consult  and  contrive  all  the 
ways  to  satisfy  our  passions.  Everybody  had  a  list  of  the  handsomest 
women  in  the  parish.  I  have  sixty  nepotes  alive.  But  my  principal 
care  ought  to  be  of  those  I  had  by  the  two  young  women  I  keep  at 
home.  Both  are  sisters,  and  I  had,  by  the  oldest,  two  boys  ;  and  by 
the  youngest  one,  and  ojic  wltidi  I  had  by  viy  otun  sister  is  dead.'''' 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

CREDULITY. 
(2  Thess.  ii.  11 ;  and  1  Tim.  iv.  2.) 

N  examining  the  leading  characteristics  of  Popery 
one  instinctively  asks,  how  can  rational  men  even 
pretend  to  believe  such  monstrous  absurdities, 
such  palpable  errors?  Paul  gives  apparently 
the  only  possible  explanation.  Referring  to  the  adhe- 
rents of  the  "man  of  sin,"  "the  great  apostasy,"  he 
affirms  : — "  God  shall  send  them  strong  delusion,  that 
they  should  believe  a  lie."  Surely,  in  perfect  fairness 
we  may  ask,,  has  there  ever  been,  or  is  there  now, 
among  those  who  have  fallen  from  the  faith,  a  more 
conspicuous  fulfilment  of  this  prophecy  than  is  fur- 
nished by  the  victims  of  Popish  superstition  ? 

If,  as  the  best  authority  affirms,  it  was  because 
"  God  gave  them  over  to  a  reprobate  mind,"  that  the 
heathen  became  guilty  of  such  revolting  immoralities 
and  "  worshipped  and  served  the  creature  more  than 
the  Creator,"  how  else  shall  we  account  for  the  deeper 
degradation  and  the  grosser  idolatry  of  Papists  ?  Pa- 
ganism never  sanctioned  such  enormities  as  have  found 
strenuous  advocates  in  the  bosom  of  "  Holy  Mother." 
True,  in  some  ages  they  deified  every  vile  passion  that 

195 


196  CREDULITY. 

rankles  in  the  heart  of  man.  Those  gods,  however, 
were  never  placed  on  loftier  thrones  than  Jupiter. 
Venus  and  Bacchus  were  not  allowed  to  purchase 
Jove's  pardon  of  unbridled  indulgence.  Over  all  other 
gods  there  was  ever  one  whose  anger  could  be  ap- 
peased, and  whose  favor  could  be  secured  only  by 
earnest  effort  after  a  life  of  virtue.  It  w^as  left  for 
"the  trader  in  human  souls"  to  promulgate  the  doc- 
trine that  by  gold  and  silver  given  to  the  priest  for- 
giveness of  all  sins,  even  the  most  heinous,  could  be 
purchased  from  the  High  and  Holy  one  who  inhabits 
eternity,  the  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords.  He  who 
in  his  Word  so  repeatedly  proffers  a  free  salvation,  is 
thus  represented  as  conferring  upon  an  arrogant  and 
corrupt  priesthood  the  right  of  selling  pardons  to  the 
highest  bidders ;  nay,  worse,  of  granting  indulgences, 
permission  to  sin  to  the  wealthiest  knaves,  and  the 
most  unprincipled  miscreants.  The  heathen  worshipped 
gods  which  their  own  hands  had  made,  it  is  true. 
They  never  so  far  degraded  themselves,  however,  as  to 
bow  in  adoration  before  a  morsel  of  consecrated  flour. 
Such  disgusting  idolatry  is  found  only  among  the  ad- 
vocates of  transubstantiation. 

Except  that  God  had  given  them  up  to  believe  a  lie, 
how  could  Papists  found  a  hope  of  heaven  on  the  abso- 
lution granted  by  a  priest  ?  Turning  from  the  throne 
of  free  grace,  they  hasten  to  a  confessor  for  jDardon. 
A  frail,  sinning  man,  forgives  sins  committed  against 
God !      A   criminal   pardons   his   fellow-criminal !     A 


CREDULITY.  I97 

creature  forgives  the  violation  of  the  Creator's  laws ! 
Rome's  most  honored  Council  has  pronounced  an  ana- 
thema against  all  who  deny  that  the  act  of  the  priest 
in  granting  absolution  is  properly  a  judicial  act,  "He 
sits  on  the  judgment-  seat  representing  Christ,  and 
doing  what  Christ  does."  In  the  catechism  sanctioned 
by  the  Council  of  Trent,  it  is  said  : — "  In  the  minister 
of  God,  wdio  sits  in  the  tribunal  of  penance,  as  his 
legitimate  judge,  the  j)enitent  venerates  the  power 
and  person  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  for,  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  this,  as  in  that  of  the  other  sacraments, 
the  priest  represents  the  character  and  discharges  tlie 
functions  of  Jesus  Christ."  When  a  large  number  of 
the  ignorant  are  so  credulous  as  to  believe  that  this 
claim  is  founded  in  truth,  is  it  any  wonder  that  we  wit- 
ness from  even  the  most  atrocious  murderers  such  dis- 
gusting exhibitions  of  hopes  belonging  alone  to  the 
devoutly  penitent  ?  And  certainly  it  need  scarcely 
strike  us  with  surprise,  if  in  almost  every  community 
not  a  few  were  found  who,  goaded  by  conscience  to 
seek  remission  of  sin,  bow  at  the  feet  of  the  priest 
confidently  expecting  to  purchase  forgiveness  with  a 
part  of  the  wages  of  iniquity.  This  done,  wdiy  should 
they  not  return  with  even  intensified  delight  to  their 
former  mode  of  life  ?  An  earnest,  long-continued  en- 
deavor to  imitate  the  pure  life  of  Christ  could  not  be 
expected  from  those  who  are  taught  to  believe  that  the 
favor  of  God  can  be  purchased  with  dollars  and  cents. 
Even  if  left  to  the  promptings  of  nature,  untutored  by 


198  CREDULITY. 

an  infallible  church,  man  would  be  far  more  likely  to 
become  enamored  of  virtue.  Consciously  burdened  with 
a  sense  of  guilt,  he  might  be  driven  to  him  who  alone 
"  has  power  on  earth  to  forgive  sin." 

That  Paul's  projDhecy  finds  a  fulfilment  in  the  history 
of  Romanism  is  apparent  in  the  doctrine  of  the  real 
presence.  In  this  the  faithful,  on  pain  of  eternal  dam- 
nation, are  expected  to  believe  that  bread  and  wine,  by 
the  enunciation  of  the  magic  words,  ^^Hoc  est  coTjptis 
meum"  are  changed  into  Christ's  "  iodi/,  hlood,  soul,  and 
'  divinity r  It  is  flesh,  though  it  tastes  like  bread.  It 
is  hlood,  though  it  tastes  like  wine.  Did  ever  delusion 
equal  this  ?  Men  claiming  common  sense  deliberately 
profess  disbelief  in  the  testimony  of  their  own  senses. 
On  the  mere  declaration  of  a  priest,  they  contemn  one 
of  God's  immutable  laws,  that  to  which  they  are  in- 
debted for  all  the  knowledge  they  have  of  an  external 
world.  In  being  faithful  to  Rome,  they  become  the 
worst  of  infidels,  without  faith  in  themselves  and  with- 
out faith  in  the  God  that  made  them. 

Instead  of  denominating  this  a  delusion,  perhaps,  so 
far  as  intelligent  Papists  are  concerned,  it  were  more 
charitable  to  characterize  it  as  a  "?ie  spoJcen  in  hypo- 
crisy'' Evidently  it  is  ''  a  commandment  of  men," 
defended  as  an  essential  part  of  a  perfected  system  of 
extortion.  Without  it  there  would  be  a  manifest  ab- 
surdity in  claiming  ability  to  forgive  sins.  Represented, 
however,  as  a  ''  bloodless  sacrifice,"  ofiered  by  the  priest 
to  the  Father  of  all  mercies,  the  appearance  of  consis- 


CREDULITY.  199 

tency  is  retained.  Merit  purchasable  Is  also  market- 
able. Transubstantiation,  like  the  doctrine  of  superero- 
gation, is  food  for  the  hen  that  lays  the  golden  egg. 

And  what  shall  we  denominate  the  doctrine  of  pur- 
gatory,— a  profitable  delusion,  or  a  lie  spoken  in  hypo- 
crisy ?  What  could  be  better  calculated  to  make  market 
for  masses?  "Saints,"  says  the  Council  of  Florence, 
'"'  go  to  heaven ;  sinners  to  hell ;  and  the  middling  class 
to  purgatory."  Among  the  middlings,  the  priests  now 
cunningly  manage,  for  an  obvious  reason,  to  include 
nearly  all.  Saints  in  heaven,  and  sinners  in  hell,  are 
beyond  the  reach  of  further  extortion.  From  the  fires 
of  purgatory,  however,  unbloody  sacrifices,  if  well  paid 
for,  can  secure  release.  Whilst  belief  in  this  interme- 
diate state  is  either  a  delusion  borrowed  from  Paganism, 
or  a  hypocritical  falsehood  intended  to  fill  Rome's  cof- 
fers, the  pretence  that  the  offering  of  a  consecrated 
wafer  can  open  to  the  soul  the  gates  of  paradise,  is  a 
delusion  or  hypocrisy  still  more  inexplicable ;  and  most 
unaccountable  of  all  is  the  claim  that  the  Church  can 
determine  when  the  soul  is  released  from  the  purifying 
flames.  To  those  whom  God  has  given  up  to  believe  a 
lie,  is  any  delusion  too  great  for  credence  ? — any  profit- 
able falsehood  too  hypocritical  for  advocacy? 

This  monstrous  doctrine  of  purgatory  the  deluded 
victims  of  Popish  superstition  believe,  notwithstanding 
it  is  written,  "  The  blood  of  Christ  cleanseth  from  all 
sin ; "  notwithstanding  the  Saviour's  promise  to  the 
thief  on  the  cross,  "  This  day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in 


200  CREDULITY. 

paradise ;"  notwithstanding  the  parable  of  the  rich  man 
and  Lazarus,  in  which  the  former  is  represented  as  lift- 
ing up  his  eyes  in  hell,  being  in  torments,  the  latter  as 
safely  folded  in  Abraham's  bosom.  They  credit  this 
absurdity  whilst  professing  to  accept  as  of  inspired  au- 
thority the  declarations  of  Paul,  "  I  have  a  desire  to 
depart  and  to  be  with  Christ,  which  is  far  better ; " 
"  For  me  to  live  is  Christ,  and  to  die  is  gain ;  "  "  To  be 
absent  from  the  body  is  to  be  present  with  the  Lord." 
Blinded  of  God,  the  intelligent  strenuously  advocate, 
and  the  ignorant  superstitiously  believe,  a  doctrine 
which  effectually  "  makes  merchandise  of  the  souls  of 
men." 

And  her  doctrine  of  supererogation  is  a  delusion  no 
less  absurd.  It  is  gravely  said,  ''  Men  can  do  more  than 
God's  holy  law  demands."  Many  have  done  so.  These 
works  have  merit.  This  merit,  collected  from  the  deeds 
of  thousands  of  worthies,  has  been  gathered  into  a 
treasury  of  which  the  Pope  has  the  key.  Hence  he  can 
deal  out  these  good  works  in  the  form  of  indulgences 
and  absolutions.  What  a  mine  of  wealth  !  And  every 
man,  however  wicked,  may  thence  derive-  merit  that 
will  atone  for  any  sin  he  may  commit,  even  theft,  adul- 
tery, or  murder,  on  the  simple  condition  that  the  price 
of  the  requisite  amount  of  treasured  goodness  is  paid 
for  in  current  coin.  Is  this  a  delusion? — or  is  it  ras- 
cality ?  With  the  ignorant  masses  it  is  no  doubt  the 
former.  But  the  educated — do  they  really  believe  that 
the  Pope  collects  the  merits  of  those  who  are  more  vir- 


CREDULITY.  201 

taous  than  God  requires  into  a  fund  for  insuring  souls 
against  the  torments  of  perdition,  and  sells  life  policies 
to  the  highest  bidder  ?  If  so,  alas  for  frail  humanity  ! 
Superstition,  it  would  seem,  can  silence  common  sense ! 
That  the  Popes  are  legitimate  successors  of  St.  Peter, 
bisliops  over  all  Christendom,  is  another  of  Rome's  de- 
lusions. Though  unable  to  determine  whether  the 
rocjj:  upon  which  Christ  founded  his  Church  was  Peter, 
the  I  Apostles,  Peter's  faith,  Peter's  confession,  or  the 
Savour's  own  meritorious  offering,  infallibility  yet  con- 
fidently affirms  that  upon  the  Pope  in  Rome  is  founded 
the  tt-ue,  holy.  Catholic,  Apostolic  Church,  out  of  which 
none  can  even  hope  for  salvation.  Supposing  the  Apos- 
tolic office  still  continues — a  purely  gratuitous  assump- 
tion, sbce  none  can  show  the  requisite  qualifications, 
personal  knowledge  of  our  Saviour's  resurrection,  a  call 
direct  ffom  his  lips,  infallibility  in  teaching  truth,  the 
gift  of  tWgues,  the  power  of  working  miracles,  and  a 
commission  fo  teach  truth  to  the  entire  human  family 
in  all  cou\itries  and  all  ages — the  claim  of  an  unbroken 
succession  from  Peter  has  never  been  established.  No 
Papist,  even,  with  the  aid  of  inerrancy,  has  been  able 
to  trace  the  line.  On  the  concession  of  Rome's  most 
honored  hisbrians,  Bellarmine,  Alexander,  Du  Pin  and 
others,  at  least  240  years  remain  from  the  beginning 
of  the  Christian  era  in  which  no  vestiges  of  Papal  au- 
thority can  be  discovered.  The  most  ancient  of  the 
fathers,  Irenasus,  Justin,  and  Clemens  of  Alexandria, 
make  no  mention  of  it,  direct  or  indirect.     And  it  is 


202  CREDULITY. 

undeniably  true  tliat  in  the  tenth  century  abandoned 
women  ruled  in  Rome,  by  whom  false  pontiffs,  their 
paramours,  were  intruded  into  the  Papal  chair.  Will 
any  Romanist  have  the  hardihood  to  affirm  that  grossly 
immoral  men,  thus  illegally  thrust  into  office,  were  suc- 
cessors of  the  holy  Apostles?  Moreover,  there  hcve 
been  times  in  the  history  of  the  Church  when  the  line 
of  succession  cannot  be  traced  even  through  sach 
monsters  of  iniquity,  no  one  even  claiming  universal 
spiritual  sovereignty.  For  fifty  years  there  were  two 
infallible  pontiffs,  one  at  Avignon,  another  at  iEbme, 
each  claiming  to  be  the  only  legitimate  successor  of  St. 
Peter.  Both  of  these  were  deposed  by  the  Coun2il  of 
Pisa,  and  Alexander  elected.  This  resulted  in  :5iving 
Holy  iMother  three  infallible  heads.  These  being  de- 
posed by  the  Council  of  Constance,  each  took  solemn 
oath  to  yield  obedience.  Each  immediately  lesumed 
the  claim  :  thus  there  were  three,  all  perjured.  In  the 
face  of  such  facts,  admitted  by  all  candid  historians, 
Papal  as  well  as  Protestant,  it  evidently  requires  no 
small  amount  of  credulity  to  believe  not  merely  that 
the  Popes  are  true  successors  of  St.  Peter,  bit  that  the 
Church  founded  on  them  is  the  only  Church  of  Christ 
on  earth. 

The  Church  of  Rome  assumes  to  be  in  possession  of 
the  keys  of  heaven,  although  it  has  forsaken  the  funda- 
mental doctrines  of  the  Gospel.  It  denies  that  regene- 
ration of  heart  and  purity  of  purpose  are  necessary  to 
salvation.     Christ's  meritorious  offering,  the  only  suffi- 


CREDULITY.  203 

cient  atonement,  is  practically  rejected.  That  justifi- 
cation is  solely  by  faith  in  the  Lord's  righteousness,  and 
that  sanctification  is  the  work  of  God's  spirit,  are  re- 
peatedly and  emphatically  denied.  It  condemns  the 
declaration  of  Paul,  that  "  there  is  no  righteousness  in 
us,"  claiming  merit  from  nature  and  justifying  righte- 
ousness from  the  deeds  of  the  law.  Contradictins;  the 
teaching  of  the  Apostle,  it  affirms,  "Man  can  be  just 
before  God,  yea,  liolier  than  his  laic  requircsr  The  as- 
sertion of  Scripture,  "  By  the  deeds  of  the  law  there 
shall  no  flesh  be  justified,"  is  met  with  the  declaration, 
"  We  are  set  free  from  sin  on  account  of  our  works." 
That  "  God  desires  or  wills  that  all  men  should  repent," 
and  that  "repentance  is  the  gift  of  God,"  are  condemned 
in  severe  terms.  These  propositions  :  "  Believers  are 
about  to  enter  into  their  rest,"  "  The  Bible  is  the  only 
infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice,"  are  pronounced 
"damnahJe  heresies^  And  although  the  New  Testa- 
ment has  given  this,  "  forbidding  to  marry,  as  one  of 
the  marks  of  the  man  of  sin,  yet  they  prohibit  marriage 
in  the  clergy  while  permitting  concubinage.  Could  de- 
lusion surpass  this,  that  men  .should  believe  themselves 
the  true  Church  of  Christ  whilst  they  have  apostatized 
from  almost  every  essential  doctrine  of  the  Gospel  ? 

Unless  we  accept  one  or  other  of  Paul's  explanations 
— either  believing  them  strongly  deluded  or  hypocriti- 
cally false — how  shall  we  account  for  their  use  of  in- 
cense ;  their  solemn  consecration  of  bells  and  burial 
places ;  their  burning  of  wax  candles ;  and  their  sprink- 


204  CREDULITY. 

ling  of  horses,  asses,  and  cattle  ?  Formerly  pious  soli- 
citude was  taken  in  the  proper  solution,  by  an  infallible 
Church,  of  the  vitally  important  question,  "  Shall  the 
hair  of  the  monks  be  shaved  in  the  form  of  a  semicircle 
or  circle?"  Do  not  such  things  evidence  the  presence 
of  seducing  spirits  cunningly  turning  the  thoughts  from 
the  state  of  the  heart  to  unmeaning  forms? 

And  by  what  terms  shall  we  characterize  those  end- 
less frauds  by  which  superstitious  people  were  made  to 
believe  pretended  miracles ;  or  those  silly  dreams  by 
which  the  most  unprincipled  impostors  that  ever  dis- 
graced humanity  pretended  to  be  directed  to  the  tombs 
of  saints  and  martj^rs  ?  And  the  bones  thus  obtained, 
how  powerful !  "  By  them,"  so  says  an  infallible 
Church,  "  Satan's  cunningest  machinations  were  suc- 
cessfully defeated :  diseases  both  of  body  and  mind, 
otherwise  incurable,  were  instantaneously  healed."  In 
one  thing  at  least  they  were  exceedingly  potent.  They 
filled  Rome's  empty  treasury.  That,  in  the  Romish 
code  of  morals,  is  all  that  need  be  demanded.  "  It  is 
an  act  of  virtue  to  deceive,  and  lie,  when,  by  that  means, 
the  interests  of  the  Church  can  be  promoted."  False- 
hood, sometimes  adroitly  conceived,  always  persistently 
adhered  to,  has  ever  been  one  of  Rome's  most  efficient 
agencies  in  establishing  and  perpetuating  her  power.* 

*  As  specimens  of  the  agencies  employed  by  Rome  to  keep  her  chil- 
dren from  straying  from  the  fold,  take  these  drafts  upon  the  credulity 
of  the  ignorant :  "  Tlie  Holy  Scriptures  are  far  more  extensively  read 
amonor  Catholics  than  they  are  by  Protestants."— Plain  Talk  about 


CREDULITY.  205 

"God,"  says  Paul,  "shall  send  them  strong  delusion, 
that  they  should  believe  a  lie."  "  The  spirit  speaketh 
expressly,  that  in  the  latter  times  some  shall  depart 
from  the  laith,  giving  heed  to  seducing  spirits,  and  doc- 
trines of  devils ;    speaking  lies  in  hypocrisy,   having 

the  Protestautisni  of  To-Day,  p.  121.  "Tradition  has  in  itself  as 
much  authority  as  the  Gospel." — Idem^  p.  127.  "Heresy  is  iu  itself 
a  more  grievous  sin,  an  evil  far  greater  and  more  baneful,  than  im- 
morality and  the  inordinations  of  sensuality." — Idem,  p.  27.  "  Chris- 
tianity and  Catholicity  are  one  and  the  same  thing." — Idem,  p.  56. 
"To  be  a  Christian  is  to  be  a  Catholic  :  outside  of  Catholicity  you 
may  be  a  Lutheran,  a  Calvinist,  a  Mahommedan,  a  Mormon,  a  Free 
Thinker,  a  Buddhist,  but  you  are  not,  you  cannot  be  a  Christian." — 
p.  58.  "  'Tis  not  very  hard  to  be  a  good  Protestant.  Believe  what- 
ever you  please  in  matters  of  religion.  Believe  nothing  at  all,  if  it 
suits  you  better.  Be  honest,  as  the  world  understands  it.  Read  the 
Bible  or  not,  as  it  pleases  you  ;  go  to  church,  or  do  not  go ;  forget  not 
to  subscribe  to  one,  or  two,  or  three  Bible  and  evangelical  societies ; 
but,  above  all,  hold  the  Catholic  Church  in  abomination— and  you 
shall  be  a  good  Protestant." — p.  20.  "One  is  poor,  and  wishes  to 
emerge  from  his  poverty ;  another  is  swayed  by  passions,  which  he 
does  not  wish  to  control ;  a  third  has  too  much  pride,  and  is  loath  to 
subdue  it ;  a  fourth  is  ignorant,  and  allows  himself  to  be  led  away. 
For  such  reasons  people  become  Protestant."— p.  37.     "As  for  him 

who  becomes  a  Protestant Poor  apostate !  for  him,  no 

more  the  beautiful  ceremonies  of  the  Church.  The  images  of  our 
Lord,  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  of  the  saints,  become  emblems  of 
idolatry  !— no  more  crucifix,  no  more  the  sign  of  the  cross :  it  is  idol- 
atry ! — no  more  prayers  :  no  more  respect  or  love  for  the  Mother  of 
God  :  idolatry  !— no  more  trusting  the  intercession  of  saints,  patrons 
in  heaven,  advocates,  protectors  near  God  :  idolatry  I  " 

"And  when  the  hour  of  death  is  drawing  near— when  the  unfortu- 
nate man  is  left  to  himself,  about  standing  before  God,  covered  with 
the  sins  of  his  whole  life— no  priest  to  administer  the  last  sacraments 
of  the  Church,  no  priest  to  tell  him,  with  all  the  power  of  divine  au- 


206  CREDULITY. 

tlieir  conscience  seared  with  a  hot  iron ;  forbidding  to 
marry,"  etc. — 1  Tim.  iv.  1-3. 

Among  the  delusions  of  Romanism,  none,  perhaps,  is 
more  transparently  absurd  than  their  much-vaunted 
immutability.  Bossuet,  the  celebrated  Bishop  of  Meaux, 
detailed,  with  seemingly  intense  delight,  the  alleged 
variations  of  Protestantism,  assuming,  indeed  asserting, 
that  "Catholicity  ever  has  been,  is,  and  ever  will  be,  as 
unchangeable  as  its  Author."  In  face  of  all  the  facts, 
for  a  Protestant  to  listen  to  this  claim  without  a  smile, 

tliority,  '  Poor  siuner,  take  courage  ;  thou  canst  die  in  peace,  because 
Jesus  has  given  vie  the  power  to  forgive  thee  thy  sins.^  " — Idem,  p.  233. 

"  Tlie  death-bed  of  the  founders  of  Protestantism — all  apostates,  and, 
for  the  most,  apostate  priests — bears  us  out  in  our  assertions,  and 
with  terribly  overwhelming  evidence." 

"  Luther  despaired  of  the  salvation  of  his  soul.  Shortly  before  his 
death,  his  concubine  pointed  to  the  brilliancy  of  the  stars  in  the  fir- 
mament. 

"  '  See,  Martin,  how  beautiful  that  heaven  is  ! ' 

'"It  does  not  shine  in  our  behalf,'  replied  the  master,  moodily. 

"'Is  it  because  we  have  broken  our  vows?'  resumed  Kate,  in 
dismay. 

"  '  May  be,'  said  Luther. 

'"If  so,  let  us  go  back.' 

"  '  Too  late  !  the  hearse  is  stuck  in  the  mire.'  And  he  would  hear 
no  more. 

"At  Elsie  ben,  on  the  day  previous  to  that  on  which  he  was  stricken 
with  apoplexy,  he  remarked  to  his  friends  :  '  I  have  almost  lost  sight 
of  the  Christ,  tossed  as  I  am  by  these  waves  of  despair  which  over- 
whelm me.'  And  after  a  while,  'I,  who  have  imparted  salvation  to 
so  many,  cannot  save  myself.' 

"  He  died  forlorn  of  God — blaspheming  to  the  very  end.  His  last 
words  were  an  attestation  of  his  impenitence.  His  eldest  sou,  who 
had  doubts  about  the  Reformation  and  the  lleforni,  asked  him  for  a 


\ 


CREDULITY.  207 

certainly  requires  no  ordinary  measure  of  gravity.  And 
for  Papists  to  3'ield  it  cordial  belief,  imperatively  de- 
mands either  extreme  ignorance,  obstinate  credulity,  or 
gross  bigotry.  No  doubt  the  Church  which  once  con- 
demned the  revolution  of  the  earth  upon  its  axis,  must 
now  be,  as  it  ever  has  been,  immutable.  Unchangeable 
as  Deity,  and  lasting  as  time.  Popery's  great  argument 
is  a  pathetic  appeal  to  antiquity.  By  this  the  doubting 
faithful  are  confirmed,  and  heretics  silenced.  It  is  an 
end  of  all  controversy.     This  question,  "  Where  was 

last  time  whether  he  persevered  in  the  doctrine  he  preached.  '  Yes, ' 
replied  a  gurgling  sound  from  the  old  sinner's  throat— and  Luther 
was  before  his  God.  The  last  descendant  of  Luther  died  not  long  ago 
a  fervent  Catholic." 

"  Schusselburg,  a  Protestant,  writes  :  'Calvin  died  of  scarlet  fever, 
devoured  of  vermin,  and  eaten  up  by  ulcerous  abscess,  the  stench 
whereof  drove  away  every  person.'  In  great  misery  he  gave  up  his 
rascally  ghost,  despairing  of  salvation,  evoking  the  devils  from  the 
abyss,  and  uttering  oaths  most  horrible  and  blasphemies  most 
frightful. 

"  Spalatin,  Justus,  Jonas,  Isinder,  and  a  host  of  other  friends  of 
Luther,  died  either  in  despair  or  crazy.  Henry  VIII.  died  bewailing 
that  he  had  lost  heaven ;  and  his  worthy  daughter  Elizabeth  breathed 
her  last  in  deep  desolation,  stretched  on  the  floor — not  daring  to  lie 
in  bed,  because,  at  the  first  attack  of  her  illness,  she  thought  she  saw 
her  body  all  torn  to  pieces  and  palpitating  in  a  cauldron  of  fire. 

"  Let,  then,  in  the  presence  of  such  frightful  deaths  and  of  the 
thought  of  eternity,  those  of  our  unfortunate  brethren  who  ma}'  be 
tempted  to  abandon  their  Church,  remember  that  a  day  will  come 
when  they  will  also  be  summoned  to  appear  before  God  !  Let  them 
think,  in  their  sober  senses,  of  death,  and  of  judgment,  and  of  hell, 
and  I  pledge  my  word  they  will  not  think  of  becoming  Protestants." — 
Plain  Talk  about  the  Protestantism  of  To-Day,  p.  23G.  Boston  :  Pat- 
rick Donahoe,  1870.  Imprimatur,  Joannes  Josephus,  Episcopus  Boston. 


208  CREDULITY. 

jour  Protestant  Church  befor-e  the  Reformation?"  is 
the  rallying  cry  of  the  advancing  hosts  of  Papacy,  and 
is  expected  to  be  the  requiem  sung  over  the  lifeless 
corpse  of  soulless,  godless  Protestantism,  "  that  spawn 
of  hell,"  destined,  as  infallibility  assures  us,  speedily  to 
go  to  his  own  place.  Where  was  Protestantism  three 
hundred  years  ago  ?  Where  were  the  Augean  stables 
before  they  were  cleansed  by  Hercules? — where  the 
decaying  palace  before  its  crumbling  towers,  and  ivy- 
bound  walls,  and  tottering  foundations  were  repaired, 
strengthened,  and  beautified  ?  The  doctrines  of  Pro- 
testantism are  as  old  as  the  promulgation  of  the  Gospel. 
Romanism  is  the  intruder.  Its  characteristic  doctrines 
are  mere  novelties  in  the  religious  world. 

By  what  terms  shall  we  characterize  that  blindness 
which,  disregarding  the  foul  stains  upon  her  history, 
denominates  the  Papal  Antichrist  "  Holy  Mother,"  the 
one  true,  Catholic,  Apostolic  Churchj  out  of  which  is 
no  salvation  ?  Pope  John  XH.  was  guilty  of  blasphemy, 
perjury,  profanation,  impiety,  simony,  sacrilege,  adul- 
tery, incest,  and  murder.  "  He  was,"  says  Bellarmine, 
^'  nearly  the  wickedest  of  the  Popes."  *  John  XXIII., 
however,  exceeded  him.  His  Holiness,  Infallible  Judge 
in  faith  and  morals,  was,  by  the  Council  of  Constance, 
convicted  of  denying  the  accountability  of  man,  the 

*  "When  summoned  to  attend  a  Council  and  answer  the  charges 
brought  against  him,  he  refused,  and  excommunicated  the  Council  in 
the  name  of  God.  Though  deposed,  he  regained  the  Papal  throne. 
Caught  in  adultery,  he  was  killed,  probably  by  the  injured  husband. 

See  Edgar's  "  Variations  of  Popery,"  p.  110. 


CREDULITY.  209 

immortality  of  the  soul,  the  resurrection  of  the  body, 
and  all  the  institutions  of  revealed  religion.     But  his 
errors  in  faith  were  venial  and  few  compared  with  his 
immoralities.     He  was  found  guilty  of  almost  every 
crime  of  which  it  is  possible  to  conceive.     The  list  enu- 
merated no  less  than  seventy;   among  these,  simony, 
piracy,  exaction,  barbarity,  robbery,  murder,  massacre, 
lying,  perjury,  fornication,  adultery,  incest,  and  sodomy. 
Of  Alexander   VI.,  another   infallible    Pope,  a   trust- 
worthy historian  says  :    "  His  debauchery,  perfidy,  am- 
bition, malice,  inhumanity,  and  irreligion,  made  him 
the  execration  of  all  Europe."     He  died  from  drinking 
one  of  the  poisoned  cups  prepared  by  him  for  the  rich 
cardinals  whose  possessions  he  intended  to  seize.     Hu- 
manity disowns  the  monster.     His  successor,  Julius  II., 
inherited,  along  with  the  tiara,  all  the  immoralities  of 
the  Papacy.     Having  secured  the  triple  crown  by  brib- 
ing the  cardinals,  no  crime  was  too  great  to  appal  his 
unterrified  conscience.    Assassination,  adultery,  sodomy, 
and  bestial  drunkenness,  are  scarcely  a  moiety  of  his 
enormities.     "  He  was  a  scandal  to  the  whole  Church. 
He  filled  Italy  with   rapine,  war,  and  blood."     Pope 
Leo  X.  denied  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  in  fact 
every  doctrine  of  Christianity,  denominating  it  a  "  lucra- 
tive fiction."     "  Paul   III.,  and  Julius  III.,  were  such 
licentious  characters  that  no  modest  man  can  write  or 
read  their  lives  without  blushing."     The  former,  the 
convener  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  made  large  sums  of 

money  by  selling  indulgences  and  licenses  to  houses  of 
'l4 


210  CREDULITY. 

ill-fame.  At  least  four  pontiffs,  Liberius,  Zosimus, 
Honorius,  and  Vigilius,  were  convicted  of  heresy;  sev- 
enteen of  perjury,  and  twenty-five  of  schism.  Accord- 
ing to  Genebrard,  "For  nearly  150  years  about  fifty 
Popes  deserted  wholly  the  virtue  of  their  predecessors, 
being  apostate  rather  than  apostolic."  Baronius,  him- 
self a  Papist,  as  if  unable  to  repress  the  intensity  of  his 
disgust  for  the  abominations  of  the  Papal  See,  exclaims : 
"  The  case  is  such,  that  scarcely  any  one  can  believe,  or 
even  will  believe  it,  unless  he  sees  it  with  his  eyes,  and 
handles  it  with  his  hands,  viz.,  what  unworthy,  vile, 
unsightly,  yea,  execrable  and  hateful  things  the  sacred 
Apostolic  See,  on  whose  hinges  the  universal  Apostolical 

Church  turns,  has  been  compelled  to  see 

To  our  shame  and  grief,  be  it  spoken,  how  many  mon- 
sters, horrible  to  behold,  were  intruded  by  them  (the 
seeular  princes)  into  that  seat  which  is  reverenced  by 
angels!"  "The  Holy  See  is  bespattered  with  filth," 
"  infected  by  stench,"  "  defiled  by  impurities,"  and 
"  blackened  by  perpetual  infamy !  "  Guiciardini,  an- 
other defender  of  Holy  Mother,  speaking  of  the  Popes 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  says  :  "  He  was  esteemed  a 
good  Pope,  in  those  days,  who  did  not  exceed  in  wick- 
edness the  worst  of  men." 

Of  the  Councils  which  have  given  us  the  dogmas  of 
Romanism,  some  have  been  immortalized  not  less  by 
villainy  than  by  heresj^  That  of  Constantinople  is 
described  by  Nazianzen  as  "A  cabal  of  wretches  fit  for 
the  house  of  correction."     That  of  Nice,  in  approving  a 


CREDULITY.  211 

disgusting  story,  sanctioned  perjury  and  fornication. 
Of  the  Council  of  Lyons,  Cardinal  Hugo,  in  his  farewell 
address  to  the  retiring  president,  Pope  Innocent,  pre- 
sents this  picture  :  '•  Friends,  we  have  effected  a  work 
of  great  utility  and  charity  in  this  city.  When  we 
came  to  Lyons,  we  found  three  or  four  brothels  in  it, 
and  we  have  left  at  our  departure  only  one.  But  this 
extends,  without  interruption,  from  the  eastern  to  the 
western  gate  of  the  city."  The  Council  of  Constance, 
composed  of  1000  holy  fathers,  which  solemnly  decreed 
that  "  no  faith  shall  be  kept  with  heretics,"  and  con- 
signed John  Huss  to  the  flames,  although  he  had  given 
himself  into  their  hands  only  on  the  express  pledge  of 
protection  given  by  the  Emperor,  was  attended  by  1500 
public  prostitutes.  This  same  Council  ordered  the 
bones  of  Wyckliffe  to  be  "dug  up  and  thrown  upon  a 
dung-hill."  Well  does  Baronius  exclaim :  "  What  is, 
then,  the  face  of  the  holy  Roman  Church !  How  ex- 
ceedingly foul  it  is  !  "  To  believe  that  an  organization, 
characterized,  according  to  the  assertions  of  its  own  his- 
torians, by  such  unheard-of  abominations,  is  the  only 
true  Church,  demands  a  credulity  fitly  termed,  "  delu- 
sion sent  of  God." 

On  pain  of  unending  woe,  every  genuine  Romanist 
must  now  believe  that  Pius  IX.  is  infallible.  Here  is 
a  specimen  of  his  inerrancy.  Arguing  for  his  temporal 
power  (since  needing  stronger  support  than  infallible 
reasoning).  His  Holiness,  jumbling  together  two  pas- 
sages of  Scripture  entirely  separate  and  distinct,  said : 


212  CREDULITY. 

"  In  the  garden  of  Olives,  on  the  night  before  Christ's 
crucifixion,  the  multitude  with  Judas  came  to  him. 
And  they  said,  'Art  thou  a  king?'  and  he  answered,  'I 
am.'  And  they  went  back  and  fell  on  the  ground." 
Certainly  this  is  no  small  tax  on  the  credulity  of  those 
who  so  loudly  proclaim  the  Pope  infallible,  especially 
and  pre-eminently  in  interpreting  Scripture.  This  ar- 
gument is  only  exceeded  by  that  of  Pope  Boniface  IV., 
who  employed  his  infallibility  in  establishing  this  pro- 
position :    MOXKS  ARE  ANGELS. 

Major    Premise :    All   animals  with    six  wings    are 

angels. 
Minor  Premise :     Monks  have  six  wings,  viz.,  the 
cowl,  two;    the  arms,  two;    the 
legs,  two. 
Ergo :    Monks  are  angels. 

Quod  ei'at  demonstrandum. 


PART    III. 

Popery  the  Foe  of  Liberty. 


CHAPTER     I. 


PERSECUTION. 


IT  YRANTS,  the  more  effectually  to  secure  power, 
have  ever  professed  supreme  regard  for  man's 

'  highest  interests.  It  was  under  the  plea  of  ex- 
tending Grecian  learning,  the  proudest  gift  of 
human  genius,  that  Alexander  burned  villages,  sacked 
cities,  and  trampled  upon  rights  dear  as  life  itself. 
Under  the  cloak  of  unrivalled  regard  to  the  unity  of 
God,  Mohammed  established,  what  had  otherwise  been 
impossible,  a  despotism  as  cruel  as  the  most  heartless 
fatalism  could  devise. 

What  others  secured  by  reiterated  protestations  of 
devotion  to  one  single  principle,  Rome  attained  by 
seizing  upon  the  Gospel.  The  religion  of  Jesus,  the 
fountain  of  all  true  liberty,  personal  and  national,  civil 
and  religious,  was  so  obscured  by  error  as  to  become, 
in  the  hands  of  those  claiming  sole  right  to  impart  re- 
ligious instruction,  a  most  j)owerful  engine  of  Satanic 
cruelty.  When,  therefore,  all  other  agencies  had  failed 
in  crushing  the  spirit  of  freedom,  the  Romish  Church, 
in  the  sacred  name  of  religion,  a  religion  proclaiming 

good  will  to  men,  solemnly  inaugurated  a  system  of 

215 


216  PERSE  C  UTION. 

persecution  unparalleled  in  the  annals  of  the  most 
blood-thirsty  Paganism. 

Popery,  in  her  noonday  of  glory,  unblushingly  denied 
to  those  rejecting  her  dogmas  even  the  right  of  inherit- 
ing property,  of  collecting  moneys  justly  due  them,  and 
of  bequeathing  even  the  savings  of  poverty  to  their  own 
children.*  Is  not  this  a  fulfilment,  to  the  very  letter, 
of  that  ancient  prediction,  "  He  caused  ....  that 
no  man  might  buy  or  sell,  save  he  that  had  the  mark, 
or  the  name  of  the  beast,  or  the  number  of  his  name?"  ■\ 
For  the  single  offence  of  rejecting  Papal  supremacy,  the 
true  followers  of  Christ  were  subjected  to  every  species 
of  annoyance  which  diabolical  malignity  could  invent. 
With  the  design  of  tempting,  or  forcing  men,  from 
worldly  considerations,  to  yield  unquestioned  obedience, 
treachery,  decej^tion,  and  cunning  were  freely  resorted 
to,  and  in  some  instances  wdth  such  success  as  to  rivet 
the  detested  system  of  Popery  upon  people  who  loathed 
the  very  name. 

When  even  these  agencies,  powerful  as  they  were, 

*  The  Council  of  Constance  anathematized  "all  who  should  enter 
into  contracts  or  engage  in  commerce  with  heretics.''''  In  a  decree  of 
Pope  Alexander  III.,  this  sentence  occurs  :  "  "We  therefore  subject  to 
a  curse  both  themselves  and  their  defenders  and  harborers,  and  under 
a.  curse  we  prohibit  all  persons  from  admitting  them  into  their  houses, 
or  receiving  them  upon  their  lands,  or  cherishing  them,  or  exercising 
any  trade  xoitli  them.''''  Frederick  II.,  in  an  edict  against  "  the  enemies 
of  the  faith,"  orders  "  their  goods  to  be  confiscated,  their  children  to 
be  disinherited,  ontZ  their  memory  and  their  children  to  he  held  infamous 
forever.''^ 

t  Rev.  xiii.  17. 


PERSECUTION.  217 

proved  ineffectual,  others  more  potent  still  were  speedily 
devised.  The  Inquisition,  or,  where  the  establishment 
of  this  was  impossible,  holy  wars  relentlessly  waged 
against  heretics,  it  was  hoped,  would  bring  all  men 
within  the  pale  of  Mother  Church.  The  emplojTnent 
of  such  agencies  was  clearly  foretold.  "And  it  was 
given  unto  him  to  make  war  with  the  saints  and  to 
overcome  them."  "And  he  had  power  ....  to 
cause  that  as  many  as  would  not  worship  the  image  of 
the  beast  should  be  killed."  "  I  saw  the  W"Oinan 
drunken  with  the  blood  of  the  saints  and  with  the  blood 
of  the  martyrs  of  Jesus."  * 

That  the  Papacy  make»  persecution  an  essential  of 
religion — althou<,h  the  Rev.  James  Kent  Stone,  Rome's 
latest  conquest,  in  his  "Invitation  Heeded,"  ridicules 
the  assertion — is  certainly  susceptible  of  clear  proof. 
In  its  defence  arguments  are  drawn,  by  their  most  emi- 
nent theologians,  from  Scripture,  from  the  opinions  of 
emperors,  from  the  laws  of  the  Church,  from  the  testi- 
mony of  the  fathers  (that  inexhaustible  treasury  of  un- 
answerable reasoning!),  and  from  experience.  That 
death  is  the  proper  penalty  of  presuming  to  disobey 
His  Infallibility,  is,  we  are  told,  the  teaching  of  reason 
as  well  as  the  dictate  of  piety.  Heretics,  unless  de- 
stroyed, will  contaminate  the  righteous.  By  tortures 
inflicted  on  the  few,  however,  the  eternal  salvation  of 
the  many  may  be  secured.     Nay,  even  to  the  deluded 

*  Rev.  xiii.  7,  15 ;  xvii.  6. 


218  PERSECUTION. 

infidels  themselves  it  is  a  mercy;  it  sends  them  to  hell 
before  they  shall  increase  the  torments  of  perdition.* 

Nor  was  the  defence  of  a  doctrine  so  essential  as  the 
right  of  the  Church  to  persecute,  left  to  the  ingenious, 
though  possibly  fallible  reasoning  of  bishops  and  cardi- 
nals. Even  Popes,  infallible  vicars,  in  the  exercise  of 
sovereign  authority,  undertook  the  laudable  task  of 
hounding  on  crazed  fanatics  to  murder  men,  women, 
and  even  defenceless  children,  in  the  name  of  the  meek. 


loving,  forgiving  Jesus.  Urban  II.  issued  a  bull  de- 
claring :  "  No  one  is  to  be  deemed  a  murderer  who, 
burning  with  zeal  for  the  interests  of  Motlier  Church, 
shall  kill  excommunicated  persons."  In  1825,  Pope 
Leo  XII.  suspended  his  plenary  indulgence  on  "  the 
extirpation  of  heretics."  Can  immutability  change? 
Can  infallibility  err?  Has  any  Pope  of  the  last  thousand 
years  disapproved  of  persecution  ?  Has  Pius  IX.  abro- 
gated one  solitary  law  against  heretics  ? 

Even  Councils,  not  provincial — the  authority  of  these. 
Papists  might  possibly  call  in  question — but  general 
Councils,  and  of  these  not  less  than  five,  have  enjoined 

*  "The  blood  of  heretics,"  says  the  Khemish  annotators,  "is  no 
more  the  blood  of  saints  than  the  blood  of  thieves,  man-killers,  and 
other  malefactors,  for  the  shedding  of  which,  by  order  of  justice,  no 
commonwealth  shall  answer." — Rev.  xvii.  6. 

Bellarmine  says:  "Heretics  condemned  by  the  Church  may  be 
punished  by  temporal  penalties,  and  even  with  death." 

Thomas  Aquinas  affirms  :  "  Heretics  may  not  only  be  excommuni- 
cated, but  justly  killed." 

Bossuet  declai-es :  "No  illusion  can  be  more  dangerous  than  making 
toleration  a  mark  of  the  true  Church." 


PERSECUTION.  219 

or  sanctioned  the  extermination  of  heretics,  giving  their 
voice  for  death  as  the  proper  punishment  of  what  they 
choose  to  denominate  heresy.  Surely  the  Romish 
Church,  if  the  declarations  of  her  priests,  bishops,  car- 
dinals, Popes,  and  Councils  prove  anything,  is  the  de- 
liberate defender  of  persecution,  even  to  death,  for 
opinion's  sake.  Every  priest,  therefore,  in  taking  oath 
"  to  hold  and  teach  all  that  the  sacred  canons  and  gen- 
eral Councils  have  delivered,  declared,  and  defended," 
swears  to  believe  and  to  teach  Rome's  right  to  torture 
and  burn  heretics,  that  is,  Protestants.* 

Even  kings  "  were  compelled  by  Church  censures  to 
endeavor,  in  good  faith,  according  to  their  power,  to 
destroy  all  heretics  marked  by  the  Church,  out  of  the 
lands  of  their  jurisdiction."  Four  Councils,  the  Third 
Lateran,  the  Fourth  Lateran,  Constance,  and  Trent, 
endorsed  this  order.-]-  That  the  woman,  Mother  of  Har- 
lots, sitting  upon  a  scarlet  colored  beast,  and  drunken 
with  the  blood  of  the  martyrs,  should  be  aided  in  her 
work  of  death  by  the  civil  authority,  was  plainly  fore- 
told :  "  These  ten  horns  which  thou  sawest,  are  ten 
kings These   have  one  mind,  and  shall 

*  In  the  oath  commonly  administered  to  bishops  occur  these  words : 
"Schismatics  and  rebels  to  our  Lord,  the  Pope,  and  his  successors,  I 
will,  to  the  utmost  of  my  power,  persecute  and  destroy." 

t  Frederick  II.,  loyal  son  of  Popish  arrogance,  issued  an  edict,  as- 
serting the  divine  right  of  kings  "  to  wield  the  material  sword  .... 
against  the  enemies  of  the  faith,  for  the  extirpation  of  heretical 
pravity."  ""We  shall  not  suffer,"  he  adds,  "  the  wretches,  who  infect 
the  world  with  their  doctrines,  to  live," 


220  PERSECUTION. 

give  their  power  and  strength  unto  the  beast." — Rev. 
xvii.  3,  13. 

And  with  terrible  energy  did  Rome  vindicate  her 
much-vaunted  right  to  persecute.  The  holy  Inquisition, 
Satan's  masterpiece,  with  St.  Dominic,  a  raving  fanatic, 
for  its  first  general,  Innocent  III.  for  its  founder,  a 
powerful  order  of  monks  for  its  defenders,  and  kings 
for  the  executioners  of  its  fiendish  penalties,  became  an 
engine  of  unexampled  cruelty,  sending  terror  into  every 
land,  suspicion  into  every  home,  and  anguish  into  al- 
most every  heart.  Neither  age,  nor  sex,  position  nor 
past  services,  were  guarantees  of  security.  A  word 
jestingly  spoken,  or  neglect  in  boAving  to  the  conse- 
crated wafer  (the  elevated  bran-god),  or  a  look  of  con- 
tempt cast  upon  a  begging  friar,  might  prove  the 
occasion  of  imprisonment  and  torture.  Personal  re- 
sentment, or  cA'en  suspicion,  especially  where  the  parties 
suspected  were  wealthy,  might  lead  to  arrest.  Even 
ladies,  in  many  instances,  were  torn  from  endeared 
husbands,  or  doting  parents,  because  lust  inflamed  their 
fiendish  persecutors.* 

Having  made  certain,  through  spies,f  that  the  person 
whom  they  determined  to  arrest  was  at  home,  the  offi- 

*  When  the  French,  on  entering  Aragon  (1706),  threw  open  the 
doors  of  the  Inquisition,  sixty  young  women  were  found,  the  harem, 
of  the  Inquisitor  General. — Gavin's  "Master-Key  to  Popery." 

t  In  Spain  alone,  18,000  were  employed,  whose  business  it  was, 
with  Satanic  cunning,  to  insinuate  themselves  into  every  company, 
speak  against  the  Pope  and  the  Church— thus  beguiling  the  unwary — 
and  drag  the  suspected  before  the  holy  Inquisition. 


PERSECUTION.  221 

cers  of  the  inquisition,  at  the  dead  hour  of  midnight, 
knocked  at  the  door.  To  the  question,  "  Who  is 
there?"  a  voice  from  the  darkness  responds,  "T^/te  lioly 
Inquisition"  Terror  opens  the  door,  and  the  daughter, 
the  son,  the  wife,  or  the  husband,  seized  by  ruffians,  is 
carried  away  to  the  cells  of  a  dungeon,  the  remaining 
members  of  the  family  not  daring  to  complain,  scarcely 
to  disclose  their  grief.  Theirs  is  a  sorrow  unknown 
except  to  him  whose  eye  never  slumbers,  who  counts 
the  tears  of  suffering  innocence. 

These  officers,  the  better  to  fit  them  for  their  fiend- 
ish business,  were  earnestly  admonished  not  to  allow 
nature  to  get  the  better  of  grace.  In  some  instances 
they  were  actually  ordered  to  arrest  their  own  near 
relatives,  that  by  conquering  human  weakness  they 
might  prove  themselves  worthy  of  the  favor  of  Holy 
Mother.     Fiendish  heartlessness  !  Adamantine  cruelty ! 

The  accused  were  never  confronted  with  the  acccuser. 
They  were  ordered  to  confess;  refusing,  torture  was 
applied  to  extort  an  acknowledgment  of  guilt.  If  to 
save  themselves  from  present  anguish,  they  confess  to 
doubts  in  regard  to  the  real  presence,  papal  supremacy, 
priestly  absolution,  the  worship  of  images,  the  invoca- 
tion of  saints,  the  existence  of  purgatory,  or  the 
doctrine  of  infallibility,  they  sentence  themselves  to 
martyrdom ;  refusing  to  confess — perhaps  because  con- 
scious of  no  crime — they  are  tortured  to  the  extent  of 
human  endurance,  and  then  bleeding,  lacerated  and 
trembling,  are  thrust  into  a  loathsome  dungeon  to  pine 


222  PERSECUTION. 

in  solitude,  unrelieved,  unpitied,  friendless,  dying  a  hun- 
dred deaths  in  one.  Were  ever  laws  devised  more  evi- 
dently contrary  to  the  plainest  dictates  of  equity  ? 

These  punishments,  inflicted  in  an  underground 
apartment  denominated  the  "  Hall  of  Torture,"  were  of 
every  species  which  fiendish  ingenuity  could  uivent. 
Of  the  unfortunate  victims  of  Papal  fury,  some  were 
suffocated  by  water  poured  into  the  stomach;  others, 
with  cords  fastened  around  the  wrists  behmd  the  back, 
and  heavy  weights  suspended  from  the  feet,  were  drawn 
up  to  great  heights,  and  then  let  fall  to  within  a  few  feet 
of  the  floor,  dislocating  every  joint;  some  were  slowly 
roasted  in  closed  iron  pans ;  of  some,  the  feet  smeared 
with  oil  were  roasted  to  a  crisp ;  of  others,  the  hands 
were  crushed  in  clamps,  or  the  bodies  pierced  with 
needles.  The  Auto  da  fe  periodically  closed  the  horrid 
tragedy.  On  a  Sabbath  morning,  day  sacred  to  him 
whose  essential  attribute  is  love,  numbers  of  these 
lacerated  beings  were  led  forth — and  in  the  name  of 
Christianity  ! — to  the  place  of  burning.  The  heart, 
sickening  at  the  recital  of  such  deeds  of  hellish  cruelty, 
and  recalling  the  names  of  such  worthy  martyrs  as 
Wyclifie,  Huss,  Ridley,  Latimer,  Cranmer,  and  thous- 
ands of  others,  joins,  with  a  holy  fervor  of  devotion,  in 
the  prayer  of  the  redeemed  souls  ceaselessly  ascending 
from  under  the  altar  of  the  Almighty:  "How  long,  0 
Lord,  holy  and  true,  dost  thou  not  judge  and  avenge  our 
blood  on  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth?" — Rev.  vi.  10. 

Having  found,    after   centuries    of    trial,    that    the 


PERSECUTION.  223 

Inquisition  and  the  Crusades  were  j)owerless  in  crusliing 
the  pure  religion  of  Jesus,  that,  in  fact,  "  the  blood  of 
the  martyrs  became  the  seed  of  the  Church,"  Rome 
endeavored,  in  the  language  of  Scripture,  to  wear  out 
the  saints  of  the  Most  High.  In  place  of  death  she 
substituted  every  species  of  annoyance  which  malignant 
hatred  inspired  of  Satan  could  invent.  Comparatively 
few  however  were  induced  to  betray  the  Lord. 
'•  Herein  is  the  faith  and  patience  of  the  Saints." 

When  the  number  of  those  denying  the  Pope's 
supremacy  became,  in  any  country,  too  great  to  be 
killed  by  the  Inquisition,  holy  wars  were  advocated. 
With  the  cross,  symbol  of  love,  on  their  banners,  the 
Papal  legions  went  forth  in  cold  blood  to  butcher  men, 
women,  and  children.  For  the  mortal  sin  of  presum- 
ing to  employ  the  faculties  God  gave  them,  they  must 
be  utterly  destroyed.  In  these  Crusades  the  Romish 
Church  actually  gloried,  and  does  still  glory,  feeling  no 
remorse  for  the  massacre  of  thousands,  no  shame  for 
the  extinction  of  kingdoms  and  people. 

Armed  with  a  bull  of  indulgence,  the  Papal  emis- 
saries went  forth  to  preach  the  Crusade.  Everywhere 
they  exclaimed,  "  Who  will  rise  up  against  the  evil 
doers?  Who  will  stand  up  against  the  workers  of 
iniquity  ?  If  you  have  any  zeal  for  the  faith,  any 
concern  for  the  glory  of  God,  any  desire  to  reap  the 
rich  benefits  of  Papal  indulgence,  receive  the  sign  of 
the  cross,  join  the  army  of  Immanuel,  lend  your  aid  in 
purging  the  nations,  and  extending  the  holy  Catholic 
reli2;ion." 


224  PERSECUTION. 

These  crusades  were  waged  not  against  those  guilty 
of  great  sins,  but  against  those  whose  only  crime  was  a 
refusal  to  acknowledge  the  sovereignty  of  Rome's  arro- 
gant bishop.  Tliis  was  the  deep-seated  error  which 
roused  such  unequalled  fury.  Those  communities  which 
fliiled  to  recognize  the  proud  pontiff  enthroned  in  the 
eternal  city  as  Christ's  Vicar  on  earth,  must  pay  the 
penalty.  The  sword,  and  fire,  and  death,  must  pro- 
claim that  the  rights  of  property  and  the  comforts  of 
home  belong  alone  to  those  who  permit  His  Holiness  to 
think  for  them. 

By  way  of  extenuating  the  guilt  of  the  Crusaders, 
modern  Papists,  though  ardent  advocates  of  Papal  im- 
mutability and  of  the  infallibility  dogma,  remind  us 
that  civilization  had  then  made  but  little  progress. 
These  crusades,  say  they^  are  justly  chargeable,  not  to 
Romanism,  but  to  the  barbarism  of  the  times.  Who 
instigated  those  wholesale  butcheries  ?  Infallible  Popes. 
Who  lauded  those  unparalleled  atrocities  which  for 
centuries  disgraced  humanity?  Infallible  Popes.  Does 
infallibility  need  the  light  of  civilization's  dim  taper  ? 
Erring  Protestants  might,  with  some  show  of  candor, 
advance  such  a  plea,  but  for  Papists,  it  is  a  betraj-al  of 
doctrines  vital  to  their  system.  Have  they  shown  any 
sorrow  for  the  past?  Have  they  expressed  repentance 
for  the  slaughter  of  unoffending  Christians?  Have 
they  abandoned  the  right  to  persecute  ?  Deceive  our- 
selves as  we  may.  Popery  is  the  same  unblushing  mon- 
ster of  cruelty,  unchanged,  and  unchangeable.     Phari- 


PERSECUTION.  225 

see-like,  while  promising  liberty  of  conscience,  she  is 
continuously  engaged  in  honoring,  applauding,  and  even 
canonizing  those  whose  only  title  to  fame  consists  in 
the  horrid  cruelties  practised  towards  the  innocent  fol- 
lowers of  Jesus. 

The  blood-thirsty  vengeance  of  the  Popes  against  the 
infidels  of  the  Holy  Land,  what  pencil  shall  do  justice 
to  that  scene  of  horror  ?  Crusades,  carried  on  with  in- 
fernal fury  for  more  than  a  century,  caused  the  death 
of  2,000,000.  Followers  of  Christ  the  Turks  were 
not ;  but  did  butcheries  convert  them  ?  Did  they  and 
their  children  learn  to  love  that  Saviour  in  whose  name 
they  were  slaughtered  ?  Can  we  even  hope  that  in  the 
moment  of  death  on  the  hard-fought  battle-field,  many, 
even  one,  turning  a  tearful  eye  towards  the  ensigns  of 
the  hated  foe,  sought  mercy  from  him  whose  cross  em- 
blazoned that  blood-stained  banner?  The  blood  of 
these  clings  to  the  skirts  of  Romanism. 

In  the  indictment  against  Popery,  another  specifica- 
tion is  the  deliberate  massacre  of  300,000  Waldenses 
and  Albigenses.  Against  these  true  successors  of  the 
Apostolic  Church,  who,  even  on  the  concession  of  their 
murderers,  were  abstemious,  laborious,  devout  and  holy, 
Pope  Innocent  III.  raised  an  army  of  500,000.  These 
blood-hounds  of  cruelty  were  let  loose  with  intense  de- 
light upon  those  whose  only  crime  was  the  belief,  pub- 
licly and  fearlessly  expressed,  that  Rome  was  the 
"  Babylonish  Harlot "  of  the  Apocalypse.  Even  Count 
Raimond,  their  Catholic  sovereign,  because  tardy  in  the 

15 


226  PERSECUTION. 

work  of  utterly  exterminating  his  loyal  subjects,  was 
publicly  anathematized  in  all  the  churches.  Trem- 
bling under  excommunication,  the  Count  took  solemn 
oath  to  pursue  the  Albigenses  with  fire  and  sword, 
sparing  neither  age  nor  sex,  until  they  bowed  to  Papal 
authority.  Rome,  however,  not  content  with  even 
such  abject  subserviency,  ordered  him  to  strip  naked 
and  submit  to  penance.  Nine  times  was  he  driven 
around  the  grave  of  the  Monk  Castelnau,  and  beaten 
with  rods  upon  the  bare  back. 

In  the  taking  of  Beziers,  the  Pope's  legate,  when 
asked  how  the  soldiers  should  distinguish  the  Catholics 
from  the  heretics,  shouted :  "  Kill  all ;  the  Lord  will 
know  his  own."  When  the  demon  had  completed  his 
work,  the  city,  swept  by  fire,  was  the  blackened  sepul- 
chre of  60,000. 

Bearing  the  standard  of  the  cross,  and  singing  "  Glory 
to  God,"  the  army  of  the  Crusaders,  under  the  bloody 
Montfort,  entered  Menerbe.  Pointing  to  a  prepared  pile 
of  dry  wood,  the  legate  roared :  "  Be  converted,  or 
mount  this  pile."  The  merciful  flames  soon  released 
the  faithful  from  the  relentless  fury  of  their  persecutors. 

The  persecutions  in  the  valleys  of  Loyse  and  Frassi- 
niere  were  cruel  beyond  description.  Christians,  after 
receiving  the  most  solemn  assurances  of  protection, 
were  thrust  into  burning  barns,  suffocated  in  caves,  led 
forth  by  scores  and  beheaded. 

And  the  Waldenses  of  Calabria  were  subjected  to 
barbarities  no  less  incredible.     Their  children,  forcibly 


PERSECUTION.  '  227 

taken  from  them,  were  placed  in  monasteries  to  be 
educated  in  the  detested  system  of  Popery.  Large 
numbers  of  truly  devout  Christians,  encumbered  not 
unfrequently  with  the  aged,  and  even  with  helpless 
babes,  were  driven  to  the  mountains,  there  to  meet 
death  in  every  conceivable  aspect  of  horror :  some  were 
starved,  some  frozen,  some  buried  alive  in  the  drifting 
snows,  some 

"Slain  by  the  bloody  Piedmontese  that  rolled 
Mother  with  infant  down  the  rocks." 

But  why  proceed  further?  To  recount  Popery's 
cruelties,  even  a  tithe  of  them,  is  impossible.  Her  his- 
tory is  echoed  in  the  carnage  of  the  battle-field,  in  the 
sighs  of  suffering  innocence,  in  the  unmeasured  anguish 
of  widowhood.  Her  pathway  upon  the  earth  is  but  too 
plainly  visible,  marked  in  blood,  the  blood  of  fifty  mil- 
lions of  earth's  noblest.  Of  this  martyred  host  who 
can  conceive  the  agonies  ?  Can  language  convey  any 
adequate  conception  of  the  sufferings  of  the  Moors  in 
Spain,  the  Jews  in  the  various  Catholic  countries  they 
have  inhabited,  the  Christians  in  Bohemia,  Portugal, 
Britain,  and  Holland  ?  *  Known  alone  to  God  are  the 
sufferings  of  his  chosen  ones.  In  his  book  of  remem- 
brance are  recorded  the  tears,  the  sighs,  the  sorrows  of 
Christ's  struggling  Church. 

To  relate  the  intrigues,  deceptions  and  atrocities  by 

*  In  the  last-mentioned  country,  the  Duke  of  Alva  boasted  that  in 
the  short  space  of  six  months  he  had  caused  the  death  of  18,000 
Protestants. 


228  PERSECUTION. 

which  Rome  succeeded  in  crushing  out  Protestantism 
in  poor,  down-trodden  Ireland,  we  shall  make  no  at- 
tempt. They  are  part  of  her  history  written  in  blood, 
— only  other  illustrations  of  the  same  intolerance. 

In  France,  "  with  infinite  joy  " — if  human  joy  can 
be  infinite — Popery  shed  the  blood  of  the  saints.  Pass- 
ing by  the  butcheries  of  Orange  and  Vassey,  the  heart 
sickens  in  recounting  the  incidents  of  the  Bartholomew 
massacre.  On  that  day,  recalled  by  Protestants  only 
with  shuddering  horror,  the  demon  of  Popish  cruelty 
went  forth  by  royal  command,  to  gorge  himself  with 
blood.  The  poor  Huguenots,  assembled  in  Paris  under 
the  pretext  of  a  marriage  between  the  Protestant  king 
of  Navarre  and  the  sister  of  Charles  IX.,  were  attacked 
by  hired  assassins  at  midnight,  and,  notwithstanding 
the  pledges  of  protection  repeatedly  and  solemnly  given 
(the  occasion  of  their  presence,  and  their  defenceless 
condition)  were  slain  in  such  numbers  that  the  streets 
ran  blood  to  the  river.  The  dead  bodies,  dragged  over 
the  rough  pavements,  were  thrown  into  the  Seine. 
Even  the  king  himself,  from  a  window  in  his  palace, 
viewed  with  seemingly  intense  delight  the  work  of 
death  sroino;  forward  in  the  court  beneath.  Above  the 
groans  of  the  dying,  and  the  curses  of  the  soldiers,  his 
voice  could  be  distinctly  heard,  shouting,  "  Slay  them, 
slay  them."  Even  those  pressing  into  his  immediate 
*  presence  to  implore  mercy  and  plead  his  pledged  pro- 
tection, received  this  as  their  only  answer,  death  from 
his  hand.     In  one  week,  according  to  Davilla,  10,000 


PERSECUTION.  229 

were  slain  in  Paris  alone.  And  the  slaughter  in  the 
capital  was  the  signal  for  rekindling  the  fires  of  perse- 
cution throughout  the  entire  empire.  In  nearly  all  the 
provinces  the  scenes  of  Paris  were  re-enacted  ;  at  Lyons, 
at  Orleans,  at  Toulouse,  at  Meaux,  at  Bordeaux.  In 
these  massacres  30,000  perished. 

And  upon  this  sea  of  blood — heaven  forgive  them — 
the  Pope,  the  Church,  and  the  king  delighted  to  look. 
Standing  over  the  dead  body  of  Admiral  Coligny,  whom 
by  assurances  of  friendship  he  had  drawn  within  his 
grasp,  Charles  exclaimed  :  "  The  smell  of  a  dead  enemy 
is  agreeable."  To  the  Pope  he  sent  a  special  messen- 
ger :  "  Tell  him,"  said  Charles, — "  tell  him,  the  Seine 
flows  on  more  majestically  after  receiving  the  dead 
bodies  of  the  heretics."  "  The  king's  heart,"  exclaimed 
one  of  Rome's  proud  cardinals,  "  must  have  been  filled 
with  a  sudden  inspiration  from  God  when  he  gave 
orders  for  the  slaughter  of  tlie  heretics."  And  then — 
as  if  the  Papacy  must  needs  put  on  the  scarlet  robe — 
the  Pope  and  the  cardinals,  entering  one  of  Rome's 
grandest  cathedrals,  returned  solemn  thanks  to  God, 
the  God  of  mercy ;  thanks  for  the  slaughter  of  Chris- 
tians !  thanks  for  the  cold-blooded  murder  of  thousands 
of  unoffending  followers  of  Jesus  ! 

The  record  of  these  events,  like  that  of  the  revolu- 
tion in  later  times,  France  would  now  gladly  bury  in 
oblivion.  They  are  spots  on  her  history,  however, 
which  ages  of  tears  can  never  efface.  And  that  Papists 
of  the  present  day  ardently  desire  to  reverse  the  testi- 


230  PERSECUTION.  ' 

mony  of  history,  or  obliterate  these  unpleasant  facts,  is 
but  too  plain  from  the  futile  efforts  repeatedly  put 
forth,  as  in  the  "Invitation  Heeded,"  the  CatlioUc 
World,  the  Freenians  Journal  and  Catholic  Register, 
to  prove  that  the  Pope  and  the  cardinals  were  grossly 
imposed  upon.  Deceived  by  Charles  special  messenger 
into  returning  thanks  for  the  murder  of  heretics,  in- 
stead of  expressing  gratitude  to  God  for  the  overthrow 
of  those  rebelling  against  civil  authority !  Certainly 
such  a  defence  is  well  worthy  the  system  it  seeks  to 
shield. 


CHAPTER  II. 

POPERY   THE    ENEMY   OF    CIVIL   LIBERTY. 

HAT  the  Romish  Church  is  nothing  less  than  a 
conspiracy  against  hberty,  personal  and  national, 
^'^'S  civil  and  religious,  we  firmly  believe.  Being  the 
twin  sister  of  despotism,  she  ever  has  been,  and 
is  now,  most  bitterly  hostile  to  freedom  of  conscience, 
freedom  of  the  press,  education  of  the  masses,  distribution 
of  the  Bible,  in  fact  to  everything  which  Republicans 
are  accustomed  to  regard  as  the  basis  and  the  safeguard 
of  popular  government.  Accordingly  she  is  industrious- 
ly engaged,  even  now,  and  in  this  Republic,  in  undermin- 
ing, insidiously  but  surely,  the  beauteous  temple  of 
liberty,  whose  foundations  were  laid  in  the  blood  of  per- 
secuted Protestants.  Her  system,  in  accordance  with 
its  time-honored  principles,  is  producing  hostility  to  our 
free  institutions. 

The  Papal  Church  is  the  foe  of  our  system  of  com- 
mon schools.  This  scheme  of  popular  education,  the 
most  successful  agency  ever  devised  for  inculcating 
those  moral  principles  which  are  indispensable  to  the 
continuance  of  self  government,  is  the  object  of  enmity 
as  unrelenting  as  it  is  universal.  Every  available  agency 
is  employed    to  shake  the   confidence   of  our   people 

231 


232         POPERY   THE   ENEMY  OF    CIVIL   LIBERTY. 

in  its  equity,  wisdom  and  efficiency.  First,  it  was 
said,  the  public  schools  are  sectarian.  The  Protes- 
tant Bible  is  used.  That  their  hostility  is  not  so 
much  against  our  version  as  against  the  Bible  itself, 
the  basis  of  public  morality,  the  most  essential  part  of 
true  education,  the  palladium  of  civil  liberty,  is  conclu- 
sively proved  by  their  unwillingness  to  circulate  even 
their  own  version,  the  Douay  Bible.  Popery  has 
always  maintained  that  "  the  Bible  is  not  a  book  to  be 
in  the  hands  of  the  people."  "  Who  will  not  say,"  ex- 
claims a  recent  advocate  of  Romanism,  "  that  the  un- 
common beauty  and  marvellous  English  of  the  Protes- 
tant Bible  is  one  of  the  great  strongholds  of  heresy  in 
this  country?"  "  We  ask,"  says  Bishop  Lynch,  of  New 
Orleans,  "  that  the  public  schools  be  cleansed  from  this 
peace-destroying  monstrosity — Bible  reading."  The 
Bishop  of  Bologna,  in  an  advisory  letter  to  Paul  III., 
said  :  "  She  (the  Catholic  Church)  is  persuaded  that  this 
is  the  book  which,  above  all  others,  raises  such  storms 
and  tempests.  And  that  truly,  if  any  one  read  it, 
....  he  will  see  .  .  .  .that  the  doctrine  which  she 
preaches  is  altogether  different  and  sometimes  contrary 
to  that  contained  in  the  Bible." 

Since  the  council  held  in  Baltimore  in  the  spring  of 
'52,  Rome's  efforts  have  been  put  forth  to  secure  a  dis- 
tribution of  the  school  fund.  The  demand  is  general, 
open,  persistent.  In  New  York,  Philadelphia,  St. 
Louis,  Cincinnati,  Chicago,  Newark, — in  all  our  large 
towns  and  cities, — they  have  erected  commodious  school 


POPERY   THE   ENEMY    OF    CIVIL    LIBERTY.  233 

houses,  employed  nuns  and  priests  iis  teachers,  and 
petitioned  lor  ixpro  rata  share  of  the  school  money.  The 
Tablet,  a  Catholic  paper  of  New  York,  argues,  March 
14,  ISGS,  as  follows : 

"  The  reason  why  the  Catholics  cannot,  with  a  good  conscience, 
send  their  chihlreu  to  the  public  schools,  is  that  the  public  schools 
are  really  sectarian.  The  State  is  practically  anti-Catholic,  and  its 
scliools  are  necessarily  controlled  and  managed  by  sectarians,  who 
are  hostile  to  the  Catholic  religion  and  seek  its  destruction.  The 
reason  why  the  sectarians  want  the  children  of  Catholics  brought 
up  in  the  public  schools  is  because  they  believe  that  if  so  brought 
up  they  will  lose  their  Catholicity,  and  become  sectarians  or  infi- 
dels. This,  and  this  alone,  is  the  reason  Avhy  they  are  unwilling 
that  Catholics  should  have  their  quota  of  the  public  moneys  to 

support  separate  schools It  is  idle  to  talk  to  sectarians,  no 

matter  of  what  name  or  hue,  of  justice  or  of  the  rights  of  consci- 
ence ;  and  yet  we  cannot  forbear  to  say  that  there  is  a  manifest 
injustice  in  taxing  us  to  support  schools  to  which  we  cannot  in 

conscience   send   our  children "What  religious  liberty  is 

there  in  this  ?  " 

Again,  in  March,  1870,  it  exclaims : 

"No,  gentleman,  that  will  not  do,  and  there  is  no  help  but  in 
dividing  the  public  schools,  or  in  abandoning  the  system  alto- 
gether." 

The  Freeman  s  Journal  once  said  : 

"  What  Ave  Roman  Catholics  must  do  now,  is  to  get  our  children 
out  ootids  devouring  fire.  At  any  cost  and  any  sacrifice,  we  must 
deliver  the  children  over  whom  we  have  control  from  these  pits  of 
destruction,  which  lie  invitingly  in  their  way,  under  the  name  of 
public  or  district  schools."  * 

*  lu  the  year  1S68,  the  Pope,  in  an  allocution  containing  a  violent 
assertion  of  Papal  power,  severely  denounces  the  King  of  Austria  for 


23-1  POPERY    THE    E.VEMY   OF    CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

Not  only  the  press,  but  j^ublic  lecturers  are  employed 
to  bring  this  movement  into  favor.  The  most  bare- 
faced falsehoods  are  palmed  off  upon  the  credulous 
jDublic.  AYe  are  told  that  our  political  institutions  are 
of  Roman  Catholic  origin ;  that  Protestantism  is  crum- 
l^ling  to  pieces;  that  religiqn,  beyond  the  pale  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  is  '^  macldnei-y,  formalism,  and  miim- 
menj ;''  that  infidels  are  the  originators  of  our  school 
system.  Our  common  schools  are  denominated  ^'^ public 
soup-liouses,  loliere  our  children  take  their  wooden  spoons^ 
"  Every  such  school^'  it  is  asserted,  "  is  an  insult  to  the 
religion  and  virtue  of  our  peopled  ^  "The  prototype 
of  our  school  system,"  said  another  Roman  Catholic 
orator,  "  is  seen  in  the  institutions  of  Paganism.  Un- 
less the  system  be  modified,  and  put  the  Christian 
(Catholic)  school  upon  the  same  ground  as  the  Godless 
school  (Protestant),  it  requires  but  little  sagacity  to  per- 
ceive its  speedy  and  utter  destruction." 

To  accede  to  this  demand  would  destroy  our  entire 
system  of  popular  education.  Upon  no  principle,  bear- 
sanctioning  a  law  "  which  decrees  that  reUgious  teaching  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  must  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  members  of  each  separate 
confession,  that  any  religious  society  may  open  private  or  special 
schools  for  the  youth  of  its  faith."  This  law,  His  Infallibility  sol- 
emnly pronounces  "abominable,"  "in  flagrant  contradiction  with 
the  doctrines  of  the  Catholic  religion  ;  with  its  venerable  rights,  its 
authority,  and  its  divine  institution  ;  with  our  power,  and  that  of 
the  Apostolic  See."  Consistency,  that  jewel !  What  Popery  con- 
demns in  Austria,  she  clamors  for  in  America. 

*  Editor  Freeman''s  Joitrnal,  1853. 


POPERY   THE   ENEMY   OF    CIVIL   LIBERTY.  235 

ing  even  the  semblance  of  justice,  can  money  be  given 
to  one  class  and  withheld  from  another.  If  Catholics 
may  claim  their  share  of  the  school  fund,  so  also  may 
Jews,  Infidels,  Rationalists,  Buddhists,  and  every  de- 
nomination of  Christians.  To  divide  the  fund  among 
all  the  claimants  would  utterly  destroy  the  efficiency 
of  the  system,  leaving  our  children  to  be  educated  in 
small  schools  under  incompetent  teachers.  And  what 
shall  we  say  of  the  logic  of  these  self-lauded  champions 
of  religious  liberty  ?  Must  we  believe  that  our  govern- 
ment, because  it  knows  no  state  religion,  is  therefore 
purely  atheistic  ?  And  what  is  atheism  but  a  system 
of  religious  negations?  Shall  then  the  Government 
establish  atheistic  schools  ?  No,  to  this  the  Catholics 
object.  Shall  it  provide  for  the  separate  instruction  of 
each  sect  ?  Shall  it  sanction,  encourage,  and  aid  sthools 
opened  for  the  incoming  horde  of  Chinese  Pagans  ? 
Shall  it  disburse  funds  to  German  Rationalists  to  teach 
that  the  stories  of  the  Bible,  however  sacred  they  may 
be  to  Christians,  are  no  more  worthy  of  credence  than 
the  myths  of  Hesiod?  Shall  it  support  schools  in 
which  Protestant  Irish,  by  recounting  the  soul-inspiring 
incidents  of  the  Battle  of  the  Boyne,  shall  rekindle  the 
dying  embers  of  hostiUty  to  Popery  ?  This  Papists 
would  never  endure.  Even  if  this  Republic  should 
succeed  in  divesting  itself  of  everything  bearing  rela- 
tions to  religion,  Catholics  would  certainly  complain. 
They  would  clamor  for  the  introduction  of  Catholic 
instruction.      Unless,  therefore,   we   are   prepared   to 


236         POPERY   THE   ENEMY   OF    CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

abolish  the  entire  system,  giving  over  all  efforts  at 
popular  education,  our  only  motto  must  be,  "  no  sur- 
render." 

And  none  certainly  have  just  cause  of  complaint.  A 
system  liberal  and  equitable — as  much  so  as  any  ever 
devised — opens  the  school-room  to  all.  Any  class  is 
of  course  at  perfect  liberty  to  educate  its  children  in 
separate  schools.  To  that  no  one  has  ever  objected. 
If,  however,  a  disaffected  portion  of  the  community 
have  a  right  to  destroy  an  organization  in  which  the 
vast  majority  are  deeply  interested,  then  evidently 
government  itself  is  impossible.  Rome's  hostility  to 
our  public  school  system  shows,  therefore,  the  deter- 
mined antagonism  of  Papacy  to  liberal  institutions. 

That  we  do  Romanists  no  injustice  in  assuming  that 
the  CMclusion  of  the  Bible  from  the  public  schools  would 
not  long  satisfy  them,  is  susceptible  of  clear  proof. 
Already  the  question  is  entering  upon  a  new  stage. 
They  loudly  affirm  that  without  Catholic  instruction 
the  schools  are  irreligious,  infidel,  godless.  Their  oft- 
repeated  assertion  is  that  to  the  Church  belongs  the 
exclusive  right  to  educate  the  young.  One  day  they 
affirm,  "  it  is  contrary  to  the  genius  of  our  republican 
government  for  the  majority  to  dictate  to  the  minority, 
especially  in  matters  of  faith ;"  the  next  they  shout, 
"  we,  the  minority,  have  the  God-given  right  to  coerce 
the  majority :  the  organization  and  control  of  all  edu- 
cational agencies  belong  by  divine  right  to  us."  The 
Tablet  contains  the  following : 


POPERY   THE   ENEMY   OF    CIVIL   LIBERTY.  237 

"  The  organization  of  the  schools,  their  entire  internal  arrange- 
ment and  management,  the  choice  and  regulation  of  studies,  and 
the  selection,  appointment,  and  dismissal  of  teachers,  belong  exclu- 
sively to  the  spiritual  authority." 

The  Boston  Advertise}-  affirms  : 

"  Catholics  would  not  be  satisfied  with  the  public  schools,  even 
if  the  Protestant  Bible  and  every  vestige  of  religious  teaching 
were  banished  from  them." 

The  Catholic  Telegraiih  of  Cincinnati  declares  : 
"  It  will  be  a  glorious  day  for  the  Catholics  in  this  country,  when 
under  the  blows  of  justice  and  morality,  our  school  system  will  be 
shivered  to  pieces.      Until  then  modern  Paganism  ivill  triumph." 

The  Freeman's  Journal  speaks  as  follows  : 

^'  Let  the  public  school  system  go  to  where  it  came  from — the  devil. 
"We  want  Christian  schools,  and  the  State  cannot  tell  ns  what  Chris- 
tianity is"     Dec.  11,  1869. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  public  or  common  school  system,  in  New 
York  city,  is  a  swindle  on  the  people,  an  outrage  on  justice,  a  foul 
disgrace  in  matter  of  morals,  and  that  it  imports  for  the  State  Legisla- 
ture to  abolish  it  forthwith." 

"  There  can  be  no  sound  political  progress — no  permanence  in 
the  State,  where  for  any  length  of  time  children  shall  be  trained 
in  schools  without  (the  Roman)  religion." 

"  This  country  has  no  other  hope,  politically  or  morally,  except 
in  the  vast  and  controlling  extension  of  the  Catholic  religion." 

It  is  idle  to  discuss  the  question  of  excluding  the 
Bible  from  our  public  schools,  when  evidently  those 
making  the  demand  would  not  be  satisfied  if  it  were 
granted.  Unless,  therefore,  we  are  prepared  not  merely 
to  exclude  the  Bible  and  all  Protestant  text  books,  but 
to  substitute  Catholic  instruction  in  their   stead,  we 


238         POPERY   THE   ENEMY   OF    CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

might  as  well  abandon  all  efforts  to  satisfy  the  com- 
plainants. Do  they  expect  we  will  sell  our  birthright? 
— and  for  what  ? — a  mess  of  mummeries  ?  The  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States  provides  as  follows :  "  Reli- 
gion, morality  and  knowledge  being  necessary  to  a 
good  government  and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools 
and  the  means  of  education  shall  forever  be  encoura2;ed," 
What  religion  ?  Christianity.  What  form  of  Chris- 
tianity? Protestantism,  the  parent  of  constitutional 
liberty.  And  who  are  they  who  demand  the  sacrifice 
of  our  public  school  system  ?  Are  they  the  sons  of  our 
Protestant  forefathers  ?  Are  they  not  foreigners  from 
the  priest-ridden  countries  of  Europe  ?  They  who  owe 
all  they  have  acquired  in  the  past,  all  they  enjoy  in 
the  present,  all  they  hope  for  in  the  future,  to  our  free 
institutions,  employ  the  very  liberty  we  accord  them  in 
endeavoring  to  overturn  our  liberties. 

The  Catholics,  withdrawing  their  children,  especially 
i.in  the  large  cities,  from  the  public  schools,  and  failing 
to  obtain  a  portion  of  the  fund,  began  to  solicit  assist- 
ance from  Legislatures  and  Common  Councils.  With 
what  success  these  appeals  were  made,  the  apj^ropria- 
tions  of  the  city  and  State  of  New  York  too  plainly 
show.  In  1863,  the  year  of  the  New  York  riots,  the 
Common  Council  donated  $78,000  to  Roman  Catholic 
institutions.  During  the  year  ending  Sept.  30,  1866, 
the  Sate  of  New  York  paid  to  Roman  Catholic  orphan 
as3'lums  and  schools  $4 5,6 74.  In  addition  to  this  a 
special  donation  of  $87,000  was  made  to  the  "  Society 


POPERY   THE   em: MY   OF   CIVIL    LIBERTY. 


239 


for  tlie  Protection  of  Destitute  Roman  Catholic  Orphan 
Children."  The  entire  contribution  to  the  Papal 
Church  this  year  reached  $124,174.  The  Protestant 
sects  received  during  the  same  year  $2,367.  Shall  the 
State  support  the  Catholic  religion  ?  Shall  it  tax  its 
citizens  for  the  purpose  of  inculcating  doctrines  sub- 
versive of  Republican  government  ?  It  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  conceive  of  injustice  greater  than  this. 
^  In  18G7,  by  enactment  of  the  Legislature  of  New 
York,  $110  was  appropriated  to  every  ward  of  "'  The 
Society  for  the  Protection  of  Roman  Catholic  Orphan 
Children."  For  this  purpose  $80,000  was  raised  by  tax 
on  the  city  and  county  of  New  York.  The  city  leased, 
in  1846,  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Orphan  Asylum,  two 
entire  blocks  on  Fifth  Avenue,  for  ninety-nine  years, 
at  one  dollar  per  year.*     Over  the  entire  country  the 


*  Moneys  voted  from  the  Public  Treasury  of  the  city  of  New  York 
for  ten  years  • 


A.  D. 

Totals. 

Roman  Catholic 
Institutions. 

Protestiiiit, 

Chaiitable, 

Jewish,  Public, 

and  all  other 
Religious  Insti- 
tutions. 

1860 

$5,430.00 

$5,430.00 

1861 

31,560.80 

S18,791.27 

12,769.53 

1862 

45,253.49 

9,153.63 

36,099.86 

1863 

91,522.11 

78,000.00 

13,522.11 

1864 

87,094.40 

73,000.00 

14,094.40 

1865 

63,552.66 

40,000.00 

23,552.66 

1866 

47,407.02 

21,607.24 

25,799.78 

1867 

133,100.40 

120,000.00 

13,100.40 

1868 

153,296.98 

124,424.60 

28,872.38 

1869 

528,742.47 

412,062.26 

116,680.21 
289,921..33 

Ten  Years 

1,186,960.-33 

897,039.00 

240         POPERY   THE   ENEMY   OF    CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

same  spirit  prevails.     Even  in  the  far  west,  Idalio  and 
Colorado  each  appropriated  $50,000  for  Catholic  schools. 

Catholic  consciences,  so  tender  about  the  tax  for 
public  schools,  silence  their  throbbings  long  enough  to 
allow  the  acceptance  of  taxes  paid  by  Protestants  to 
schools  intensely  sectarian.  Hands  that  would  be  de- 
filed by  touching  Protestant  Bibles,  handle  Protestant 
money  with  impunity.  And  they  want  even  more 
than  our  money.  A  bill  introduced  into  the  New  York 
Legislature  by  the  party  bidding  for  Catholic  votes,  and 
earnestly  advocated,  proposes  a  fine  of  one  hundred 
dollars  on  any  institution,  public  or  private,  incorpo- 
rated or  not  incorporated,  and  upon  any  Protestant 
guardian,  presuming  to  impart  religious  instruction  to 
a  Roman  Catholic  child.  The  faith  of  the  drunken, 
houseless,  shiftless  father  shall  determine  the  belief  of 
even  the  child  that  eats  the  bread  of  Protestant  charity. 
Having  stolen  from  our  State  treasuries  large  sums  for 
the  support  of  their  schools,  asylums,  and  hospitals, 
why  not  at  once  enact  a  law  compelling  us  to  support 
their  poor,  and  instruct  their  children  in  the  tenets  of 
Catholicism  ?  As  it  would  be  a  good  speculation,  con- 
science need  not  make  them  linger.  They  who  have 
stolen  the  chickens  might  as  well  take  the  coop. 

And  the  schools,  aided  by  these  munificent  dona- 
tions, are  maintained  for  the  express  purpose  of  incul- 
catins:  the  doctrines  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
In  the  report  (1866)  of  the  "Society  for  the  Protection 
of  Roman  Catholic  Orphan  Children,"  this  is  expressly 


POPERY    THE   ENEMY   OF    CIVIL    LIBERTY.  241 

afTirmed.  The  Freemans  Journal  once  said :  "  This 
subject  (the  school  question)  contains  in  it  the  whole 
question  of  the  progress  and  triumphs  of  the  Catholic 
Church  in  the  next  generation  in  this  country."  Their 
schools  are  strictly  sectarian.  The  Catechism  is  taught. 
The  children  cross  themselves  before  a  crucifix.  Bow- 
ing before  an  image  of  the  Virgin  they  repeat,  "  Hall, 
Mary,  full  of  grace,  our  Lord  is  with  thee,  i^ray  for  us 
sinners  noio  and  in  the  hour  of  death."  In  one  of  their 
reading  books,  "  Duty  of  a  Christian  towards  God," 
occur  these  words  :  "  \Ye  sin  by  irreverence  in  profan- 
ing churches,  the  relics  of  the  saints,  the  images,  the 

holy  water,  and  other  such  things The  use 

of  images  is  exceedingly  beneficial It  is  good 

and  useful  to  invoke  them  (the  saints)  that  we  may 
obtain  from   God  those  graces  of  which  we  stand  in 

need A  true  child  of  Mary  will  say  every 

day  some  prayers  in  her  honor."  In  the  Cathechism 
published  by  Sadlier  &  Co.,  N.  Y.,  and  taught  in  their 
schools,  the  second  commandment,  ''  Thou  shalt  not 
make  unto  thee  any  graven  image,"  etc.,  is  entirely 
suppressed.  In  another  text-book  we  find  the  follow- 
ing :  "  What  is  baptism  ?  "  "  It  is  a  sacrament  which 
regenerates  us  in  Jesus  Christ  by  giving  us  the  spirit- 
ual life  of  grace,  and  which  makes  us  the  children  of 
God  and  of  the  Cliurch."  "Does  baptism  efface  sin?" 
"  Yes  :  in  children  it  effaces  original  sin ;  and  in  adults, 
besides  original  sin,  it  effaces  all  the  actual  sin  which 
they  may  have  committed  before  being  baptized."  "  Is 
16 


242         POPERY  THE  ENEMY   OF   CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

baptism  necessary  for  salvation  ? "  "  Yes  :  it  is  so 
necessary  for  the  salvation  of  men,  that  even  children 
cannot  be  saved  without  receiving  it."  "  Of  whom  is 
this  (the  Devil's  party)  composed  ? "  "  Of  all  the 
wicked,  Pagans,  Jews,  infidels,  heretics,  and  all  bad 
Christians."  In  a  "  Synopsis  of  Moral  Theology,"  pre- 
pared for  theological  students,  this  question  occurs : 
"Are  heretics  rightly  punished  with  death  ? "  "  St. 
Thomas  says  Yes,  because  forgers  of  money,  and  distur- 
bers of  the  State  are  justly  punished  with  death;  there- 
fore also  lieretics,  xolio  are  forgers  of  the  faith,  are  justly 
ininished  iclth  death"  The  dogma  of  Infallibility,  and 
the  doctrine  of  Purgatory  are  also  taught.  In  one  of 
the  Catechisms  now  in  use  it  is  asked,  "  Can  the  Church 
err  in  what  she  teaches  ? "  "  No,  she  cannot  err  in 
matters  of  faith."  "  What  do  you  mean  by  purgatory?" 
"A  middle  state  of  souls  suffering  for  a  time  on  account 
of  their  sins."  "Are  all  the  souls  in  purgatory  helped 
by  our  prayers  ?  "     "  Yes,  they  are." 

Verily,  only  a  Jesuit  can  see  the  justice  in  taxing 
Protestants  for  the  purpose  of  making  munificent  dona- 
tions— $400,000  in  a  single  city  in  a  single  year — to 
schools  in  which  such  instructions  are  given.  And 
while  receiving  the  gift,  thcy  complain  piteously  of  our 
injustice  in  denying  them  the  right  of  converting  our 
common  schools  into  nurseries  of  Papal  superstition. 

Catholics  by  their  crouching  subserviency  to  a 
foreign  despot  are  disqualified  from  becoming  good  Re- 
publican citizens.     Bound  by  solemn  obligations  to  the 


POPERY  THE  ENEMY   OF   CIVIL    LIBERTY.         243 

only  Sovereign  whom  they  can  in  conscience  recognize, 
loyalty,  if  indeed  it  be  loyalty,  is  suspended  on  the  will 
of  the  Pope.  And  he,  Peter's  successor,  can,  says  the 
canon  law,  dispense  with  oaths  and  vows  of  allegiance, 
even  the  most  sacred.  That  this  arrogant  ruler  must 
of  necessity,  if  faithful  to  the  principles  of  his  Church, 
claim  sovereignty  even  in  temporal  affairs  over  Repub- 
licans, even  in  this  country,  can  be  proved  beyond  con- 
tradiction from  assertions  of  eminent  Papal  writers, 
from  the  acts  of  the  Popes,  from  canon  law,  and  from 
the  decrees  of  at  least  eight  general  Councils.*  He 
wears  the  triple  crown  surmounted  by  the  cross.  He 
denominates  himself,  "  Lord  of  all  the  earth."  Did  ever 
assumption  equal  this  ?  All  other  claims  of  authority 
are  mere  moonshine — a  pleasing  delusion.  When  the 
claims  of  our  country  come  in  collision  with  his — he 
being  judge — the  Catholic  must  obey  the  latter  on  pain 

*  "  The  spiritual  power  must  rule  the  temporal,  by  all  means  and 
expedients,  when  necessary." — Bellarmine. 

"It  is  the  duty  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  to  compel  heretics, 
by  corporal  punishment,  to  submit  to  her  faith." — Dens'  Theology  (a 
Catholic  text-book). 

"A  Eoman  Pontiff  can  absolve  persons  even  from  oaths  of  allegi- 
ance."— Can.  Authoritatis  2,  cans.  15,  quest.  6,  pt.  2. 

"All  things  defined  by, the  canons  and  general  Councils,  and  espe- 
cially by  the  Synod  of  Trent  (these  declare  the  Pope  an  absolute  tem- 
poral Sovereign),  I  undoubtedly  receive  and  profess  ;  and  all  things 
contrary  to  them  I  reject  and  curse.  And  this  Catholic  faith  I  will 
teach  and  enforce  on  my  dependents  and  flock." — From  the  oath  ad- 
ministered to  priests. 


244         POPERY  THE  ENEMY  OF    CIVIL  LIBERTY. 

of  mortal  sin,  perjury.*     Can  such  slaves  ever  become 
good  citizens  in  a  free  Republic  ? 

And  this  claim,  so  resolutely  maintained  in  the  past, 
is  adhered  to  in  the  present.  The  Syllabus  of  1864, 
which  contains  ten  general  charges,  supported  by  eighty 
specifications,  denominated  " dam^iahJe  heresies"  de- 
nounces all  the  leading  ideas  of  Republicanism,  in  fiict, 
of  modern  civilization.  It  is  an  indictment  of  all  Pro- 
testant educational  agencies,  of  marriage  by  civil  con- 
tract, of  the  independence  of  Church  and  State,  of  free- 
dom of  the  press,  of  Bible  societies,  of  the  functions  of 
modern  legislation,  of  Democratic  forms  of  government, 
and  of  the  existing  relations  between  the  governed  and 
tJie  governing  classes.  In  a  letter  addressed  to  Pros- 
per Gueranger,  an  ardent  defender  of  the  Infallibility 
dogma,  the  Pope  says :  "  This  madness  (Gallicanism) 
reaches  such  a  height  that  they  undertake  to  reform 

*  The  Bishop's  oath  contains  the  following  :  "  To  the  extent  of  my 
power,  I  will  observe  the  Pope^s  commands  (in  temporal  as  well  as 
spiritual  things,  for  so  the  Pope  explains  the  oath) ;  and  1  ivill  make 
others  observe  them :  and  I  will  j^ersecute  all  heretics  and  all  rebels  to 
my  Lord  the  Pope.'''' 

The  famous  bull  against  the  two  sons  of  wi*ath  begins  :  "The  au- 
thority given  to  St.  Peter  and  his  successors,  by  the  immense  power 
of  the  Eternal  King,  excels  all  the  powers  of  earthly  kings  and  prin- 
ces. It  passes  uncontrollable  sentence  upon  them  all ;  ....  it  takes 
most  severe  vengeance  of  them,  casting  them  down  from  their  thrones 
though  ever  so  puissant,  and  tumbling  them  down  to  the  lowest  parts 
of  the  earth  as  the  ministers  of  aspiring  Lucifer." 

"  He  who  prefers  a  king  to  a  priest,  does  prefer  the  creature  to  the 
Creator." — Morn.  Exer.  on  Popery,  p.  67. 


POPERY   THE  ENEMY    OF   CIVIL    LIBERTY.         245 

even   the   diviiic   constitution   of  the   Church,   and   to 
adapt  it  to  tlte  modern  forms  of  clvd  government.'^ 

Evident  and  well  authenticated  as  is  Rome's  claim, 
to  temporal  power  over  her  subjects,  and  her  conse- 
quent inherent  hostility  to  Republicanism,  Jesuits,  with 
an  effrontery  that  Satan  himself  might  covet,  peremp- 
torily deny  it.  They  pretend  to  love  our  form  of  gov- 
ernment, to  laud  our  liberty,  and  to  wish  for  us  a 
future  of  success. 

"  Timeo  Danaos  et  dona  ferentes." 
Father  Hecker — founder  of  the  community  of  Paul- 
ist  Fathers,  New  York,  whose  special  mission  it  is  to 
bring  the  steam  printing-press  to  bear  upon  the  spread 
of  the  Catholic  religion  in  the  United  States,  and  who 
furnish  most  of  the  literary  matter  for  the  Publication 
Society,  including  tracts,  the  articles  in  the  Catliolic 
World,  and  volumes  for  Sunday  schools — in  a  lecture 
delivered  in  Horticultural  Hall,  Philadelphia  (Jan.  19, 
1871),  entitled  "  The  Church  and  the  Republic,"  boldly 
affirms,  in  the  face  of  all  history,  that  Protestantism  is 
essentially  hostile  to  Republicanism,  and  Catholicism 
its  unwearied  friend.  His  only  argument,  laboriously 
drawn  out  to  nearly  an  hour's  length,  is  summed  up  in 
this  syllogism : 

Protestants  teach  that  man  is  totally  dejDraved.  (Un- 
true.) 
They  who  believe  in  total  depravity  are  incapable 
of  self-government.   (Untrue.) 
.*.  Protestants  are  enemies  of  Republicanism.    (Doubly 
untrue.) 


246         POPERY  THE  ENEMY   OF   CIVIL   LIBERTY. 

And  what  shall  we  think  of  the  propriety,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  honesty,  of  affirming  that  Catholicism  is 
the  firm  friend,  the  only  true  friend  of  Republican 
forms  of  government,  and  of  making  this  assertion  at 
the  very  time  when  all  Catholics  are  clamorously 
shouting  that  Pius  IX.  shall  be  reinstated  in  temporal 
powder  against  the  will,  formally  and  emphatically  ex- 
pressed, of  those  whom  he  proposes  to  govern  ?  When 
every  Catholic  city  in  the  United  States,  almost  every 
Catholic  church,  is  ringing  with  protests  against  what 
the}^  choose  to  denominate  the  robbery  of  St.  Peter, 
and  every  means,  fair  and  foul,  is  employed  to  induce 
the  Governments  of  Europe,  and  even  the  United 
States,  to  demand  that  the  worst  despotism  which 
modern  times  has  known,  shall  be  resurrected  and 
forced  upon  an  unwilling  people, — at  this  very  time. 
Father  Hecker  dares  to  stand  before  an  audience  of 
Am.erican  freemen,  and  affirm,  "  We  Catholics  are  the 
truest,  the  best,  the  only  firm  friends  of  civil  liberty, 
which  is  the  gift  of  our  Church  to  the  world." 

Popery's  hostility  to  free  institutions  is  manifested 
in  ways  almosl  innumerable.  A  priest  some  months 
ago  j)eremptorily  refused  to  give  testimony  in  a  St. 
Louis  court,  on  the  ground  that  by  the  authority  of 
the  Pope,  the  priesthood  was  under  no  obligation  to 
obey  the  civil  law.*     In  the  city  of  Boston  a  man,  be- 

*  "A  priest  cannot  be  forced  to  give  testimony  before  a  secular 
judi^e."— Taberna,  vol.  ii.  p.  288. 

"The  rebellion  of  priests  is  not  treason,  for  they  are  not  subject  to 
civil  government." — Emmanuel  Sa. 


POPERY   THE   ENEMY   OF    CIVIL   LIBERTY.  247 

lieved  to  be  a  murderer  by  ninety-nine  in  every  hun- 
dred who  heard  the  evidence,  was  recently  acquitted, 
because,  on  one  trial,  two  jurors,  on  the  next,  one,  ob- 
stinately refused  to  unite  with  the  rest  in  conviction, 
and  apparently,  and  in  the  opinion  of  the  lawyers  and 
judges,  simply  because  they  belonged  to  the  same  bro- 
therhood, the  immutable,  infallible  Church  of  Rome. 
During  our  recent  struggle  in  breaking  the  chains  of 
slavery — a  struggle  involving  the  question  of  national 
existence — the  Catholics,  true  to  their  time-honored 
principles,  proved  themselves  hostile  to  our  Govern- 
ment. We  speak  advisedly.  "We  know  they  boast 
much  of  their  loyalty.  It  is  indeed  true  that  in  the 
first  year  of  the  war  many  enlisted.  Rome  had  not 
yet  spoken.  Carried  along  by  the  irresistible  tide  of 
patriotism  they  enthusiastically  joined  in  the  cry, 
"  Secession  is  treason,  and  must  be  punished."  In  the 
second  year  of  the  war,  however.  Archbishop  Hughes 
visited  Europe.  Almost  the  first  intimation  we  had 
of  his  presence  at  the  Vatican  was  the  acknowledg- 
ment by  the  Pope  of  the  independence  of  the  Confede- 
rate States.  A  written  benediction  was  forwarded  to 
Jefferson  Davis,  addressing  him  as  "  Illustrious  and 
Honorable  President." 

Very  soon  enlistments  among  the  Irish  ceased  almost 
entirely.  Desertions  became  frequent.  The  entire 
Catholic   population   became   intensely  hostile   to   the 

"A  common  priest  is  as  much  better  than  a  king,  as  a  man  is 
better  tlian  a  beast.'-— Demoulin. 


2-18  POPERY   TUE  ENEMY   OF    CIVIL   LIBERTY. 

Government.  Banded  together,  they  dechired,  in  hm- 
guage  not  to  be  mistaken,  their  determination  to  resist 
the  draft.  Eiots  were  by  no  means  infrequent,  and 
■would  no  doubt  have  been  more  numerous  but  for  the 
apparent  hopelessness  of  the  effort  to  resist  the  will  of 
the  American  people.  Who  inspired  this  fiendish 
malevolence  ?     ^Yho  instia;ated  outra2:es  like  those  in 

o  CD 

New  York  ?  AVas  the  Pope's  temporal  power  unfelt  on 
this  continent?  Were  we  not  furnished  with  illustra- 
tions frequent  and  painful  that  the  first  allegiance  of 
our  Catholic  citizens  is  due  to  their  spiritual  sovereign 
in  Rome? 

And  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln,  how 
strangely  is  it  connected  with  Rome's  hostility  to  our 
Republican  Government.  The  deed  was  planned  in  the 
home  of  a  devout  Catholic.  It  was  associated  in  its 
inception  with  the  prayers  and  hopes  of  the  Romish 
Church.  One  of  the  prominent  actors,  aided  in  his 
escape  by  our  Catholic  enemies  in  Canada,  found  refuge 
in  a  convent,  and  afterwards  became  a  soldier  in  the 
army  of  Pius  IX.  These  and  other  circumstances — all 
possibly  purely  fortuitous — taken  in  connection  with  the 
known  principles  of  Romanism  and  the  well-established 
fact  that  Catholics,  during  the  last  years  of  the  war, 
were  intensely  disloyal,  certainly  reflect  little  honor  on 
Popery's  ability  to  inspire  devotion  to  civil  liberty.  If, 
as  St.  Liguori  says,  "  Although  a  thing  may  he  against 
God,  nevertheless,  on  account  of  the  virtue  of  ohedience, 
the  subject  loho  does  that  thing,  does  not  sin,"  certainly  it 


POPERY   THE   ENEMY   OF    CIVIL   LIBERTY.  2-19 

is  reasonable  to  believe  that  Papists  prefer  the  favor  of 
the  Pope,  even  if  purchased  by  unwarrantable  means, 
to  the  empty  gratitude  of  their  adopted  country.  The 
editor  of  the  Catholic  Quarterly,  waxing  bold,  once 
said :  "  Protestants  are  not  to  inquire  whether  the 
Catholic  Church  is  hostile  to  civil  and  religious  liberty 
or  not ;  but  whether  that  Church  is  founded  in  divine 
right.  If  the  Papacy  be  founded  in  divine  right,  it  is 
supreme  over  whatever  is  founded  only  in  human  right, 
and  then  your  institutions  should  he  made  to  harmonize 
with  it,  and  not  it  with  your  institutions  ....  Liberty 
of  conscience  is  unknown  anfiong  Catholics.  The  ivord 
llherty  should  he  hanished  from  the  domain  of  religion. 
It  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  a  fiction  to  say  that  a 
man  has  the  right  to  choose  his  own  religion." 

Popery,  to  borrow  a  figure  from  Augustine,  is  the 
proud  and  gorgeous  city  of  superstition,  set  over 
against  the  Church  of  God,  which  it  attacks  with  all 
the  forces  which  bigotry  and  malice  can  invent ;  or  to 
change  the  figure,  it  is  a  vast  political  engine,  employed 
in  the  effort  to  crush  out  the  liberties  of  the  human 
race.  The  Catholic  World  (endorsed  by  the  highest 
dignitaries  of  Rome,  including  the  Pope  himself),  in 
the  leading  article  of  July,  1870,  entitled  "  The  Catho- 
lic of  the  Nineteenth  Century,"  asserts  in  unmistak- 
able language  the  supreme  duty  of  the  Papists  to  obey 
the  commands  of  the  Pope,  and  seek,  in  every  way,  and 
especially  by  means  of  the  ballot,  to  render  the  Papal 
policy  effective   in    this   country.     Its   first   assertion, 


250         POPERY   THE  ENEMY   OF   CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

"  The  Catholic,  like  the  Church,  is  one  and  the  same 
in  all  ages,"  is  followed  by  the  still  more  arrogant  affir- 
mation, the  Roman  Catholic  religion  is,  "  with  reference 
to  time  as  well  as  eternity,"  "  absolutely  perfect,"  "  as 
perfect  as  God."  This  is  the  basis  of  the  obligation, 
felt  by  every  "  dutiful  subject,"  "  to  vindicate  with  prop- 
erty, liberty  and  life,"  the  supremacy  of  the  head  of 
the  Church.  If  the  Pope's  authority  and  that  of  any 
civil  government  "come  in  conflict  upon  any  vital 
point,"  the  Papist  is  to  do,  "  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
precisely  as  he  did  in  the  first,  second,  or  the  third." 
Legislation  is  valid  only  when  in  harmony  with  Catho- 
licism, "the  organic  law;"  all  other  is  "unjust,  cruel, 
tyrannical,  false,  vain,  unstable,  and  weak,  and  not  en- 
titled to  respect  or  ohedience"  This  has  one  transcendent 
virtue,  clearness.  And  how  is  our  legislation  to  be 
brought  into  harmony  with  "the  organic  law  infalli- 
bly announced?"  By  "the  mild  and  peaceful  influence 
of  the  ballot,  directed  by  instructed  Catholic  con- 
science." And  how  shall  Romanists  know  which  way 
to  vote  ?  "  The  Catholic  Church  is  the  medium  and 
channel  through  which  the  will  of  God  is  expressed." 
His  will  is  announced  to  men  "  from  the  chair  6f  St. 
Peter."  To  what  extent  must  this  devotion  to  Popery 
be  carried  ?  "  We  do  not  hesitate  to  affirm  that  in 
performing  our  duties  as  citizens,  electors,  and  public 
officers,  we  should  always  and  under  all  circumstances 
act  simply  as  Catholics."  "  The  Catholic  armed  with 
his  vote  becomes  the  champion  of  faith,  law,  order,  so- 


POPERY  THE  ENEMY  OF  CIVIL   LIBERTY.         251 

cial  and  political  morality,  and  Christian  civilization." 
By  the  ballot  he  must  place  "  the  regulation  and  con- 
trol of  marriage"  where  it  "exclusively  belongs,"  in  the 
hands  of  the  Romish  priesthood.  And  the  rightful  con- 
trol of  marriage  "implies,  by  necessity,  the  Catholic  view 
of  all  the  relations  and  obligations  growing  out  of  it ;  the 
education  of  the  young,  the  custody  of  foundlings  and 
orphans,  and  all  measures  of  correction  and  reformation 
applicable  to  youthful  offenders  and  disturbers  of  the 
peace  of  society." 

Another  victory  to  be  achieved  by  Catholic  votes  is 
the  destruction  of  "  a  godless  system  of  education,"  or — • 
which  is  the  same  thing — an  uncatholic  system,  and  the 
substitution  of  the  perfect  system  of  that  Church  which 
"  flatly  contradicts  the  assumption  on  the  part  of  the 
State  of  the  prerogative  of  education."  Nor  is  this  the 
only  arduous  task  laid  on  the  Catholic  voters  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  They  are  to  legislate  all  existing 
evils  out  of  the  world  and  into  eternal  oblivion ;  red- 
republicanism,  Fourierism,  communism,  free  love,  Mor- 
monism,  mesmerism,  phrenology,  spiritism,  sentimental 
philanthropy,  sensuality,  poverty,  and  woman's  rights. 
They  propose  to  vote  all  men  into  holiness;  if  not, 
certainly  into  servitude.  And  then,  too,  over  us  Pro- 
testants, who  freely  accord  them  the  privilege  of 
denouncing  severally  and  collectively  every  institution 
considered  essential  to  civil  liberty,  they  hope  by  the 
omnipotent  power  of  the  ballot  to  erect  "  a  censorship 
of  ideas,  and  the  right  to  examine  and  approve  or  dis- 


252         POPERY  THE   ENEMY   OF   CIVIL   LIBERTY. 

approve  all  books,  publications,  writings,  and  utterances 
intended  for  public  instruction,  enlightenment  or  enter- 
tainment, and  the  supervision  of  places  of  amusement." 
Champions  of  liberty !  Gladly  would  we  add  more  quo- 
tations from  an  article,  all  of  which  so  well  deserves 
the  serious  consideration  of  every  lover  of  his  country. 
Want  of  space  forbids.  With  one,  showing  the  kind 
of  republicanism  which  the  author  loves,  we  close : — 
"The  temporal  government  of  the  head  of  the  Church  is 
to-day  (July,  1870)  the  best  in  the  world."  His  sub- 
jects evidently  thought  otherwise. 

Catholics  are  strangely  consistent  friends  of  liberty, 
if  we  may  judge  from  the  riots  in  New  York,  July  12th, 
1870,  the  anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  the  Boyne,  when 
unoffending  Orangemen  peacefully  celebrating  the  day 
commemorative  of  the  victory  of  William  of  Orange  over 
James  II.,  and  the  consequent  ascendancy  of  the  Protes- 
tant religion,  were  attacked ;  some  killed  and  many 
wounded.  And  the  Catholic  papers  of  the  city — where 
for  many  long  years  Catholics  have  been  permitted  unin- 
terruj^tedly  to  form  processions  on  Sundays,  and  to  cele- 
brate St.  Patrick's  and  other  days,  blocking  up  the 
streets,  excluding  Protestants  from  their  own  sanctuaries, 
and  making  every  demonstration  calculated  to  exas- 
perate them — argue,  with  surprising  unanimity,  that 
"this  miserable  faction  ought  not  to  be  allowed  to 
madden  this  nation  by  their  annual  celebration." 
Have  Protestants  no  rights  which  Catholics  need 
respect  ? 


POPERY   THE  ENEMY   OF    CIVIL   LIBERTY.  2o3 

It  was  left,  however,  for  the  year  1871,  to  witness  a 
still  more  emphatic  illustration  of  the  intense  devotion 
felt  by  our  Cathohc  fellow-citizens  to  the  doctrine  of 
popular  liberty.  The  Orangemen  of  New  York  having 
resolved  to  celebrate,  notwithstanding  the  riotous  pro- 
ceedings of  last  year,  the  anniversary  of  the  defeat  of 
their  enemies,  nearly  two  centuries  ago,  the  Roman 
Catholics  announced  their  determination  to  suppress  a 
public  j)arade.  The  city  authorities,  quailing  before 
the  threats  of  those  whose  united  vote,  uniformly  cast 
in  the  interest  of  political  Romanism,  elects  to  office  or 
consigns  to  oblivion,  surrendered  and  forbade  the  pro- 
cession. "  It  is  given  out,"  said  the  superintendent  of 
police,  at  the  dictation  of  the  Mayor,  "  that  armed  pre- 
parations for  defence  have  been  made  by  the  parading 
lodges."  Was  it  not  first  announced,  however,  that 
armed  preparations  had  been  made  for  an  attack  ?  Is 
Protestantism  destitute  of  even  the  right  to  prepare  for 
self-defence  ?  Must  we  set  it  down  as  a  fixed  fact  that 
when  Catholics  object  to  a  procession,  and  arm  for  its 
suppression,  it  may  not  occur  ?  And  for  such  liberty 
New  York — its  wealth  mostly  in  the  hands  of  Protes- 
tants— pays  $50,000,000  a  year.  Another  pretext  was, 
that  processions  in  the  streets  are  not  matters  of  right, 
but  merely  of  toleration.  This  important  legal  fact  it 
seems  was  allowed  to  sleep  in  the  ponderous  tomes  of 
the  City  Hall  till  a  band  of  desperadoes  chose  to  an- 
nounce their  determined  purpose  of  f)reventing  the 
Orange   parade.      Why   was    not    this    decision    pro- 


254         POPERY  THE  ENEMY    OF   CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

claimed  prior  to  the  overwhelming  processions  of  St. 
Patrick's  day  ?  Why  are  Catholic  parades  allowed  both 
in  the  least  frequented  and  the  most  important  business 
streets  of  the  city?  If  the  circumstances  had  been 
reversed,  and  Orangemen  had  threatened  a  riot  if 
Roman  Catholics  were  permitted  to  celebrate  the  honors 
of  Ireland's  patron-saint,  who  does  not  know  that  the 
city  officers  would  have  thundered  their  determination 
to  defend  the  inalienable  rights  of  American  Citizens  ? 
Not  less  absurd  is  the  pretext,  as  flimsy  as  it  is  spe- 
cious, that  foreign  events  and  feuds  are  not  to  be 
allowed  the  opportunity  of  perpetuating  their  memory 
on  American  soil.  Were  not  the  Germans  j)ermitted, 
in  their  boisterous  rejoicings  over  a  united  fatherland,  to 
flaunt  their  banners  in  the  very  faces  of  the  deeply 
humiliated  and  bitterly  exasperated  Frenchmen  ? 

So  intense  and  wide-spread  was  the  popular  indig- 
nation— showing  that  Protestants  though  submissive 
are  not  slaves — that  the  Governor  issued  a  circular, 
pledging  protection  to  the  much-abused  Protestant 
Irish,  promising  them  the  support  of  the  strong  arm  of 
the  State.  The  12th  of  July,  accordingly,  witnessed  an 
inspiring  scene,  the  State  in  her  majesty  affirming  that 
every  class  of  its  citizens,  whether  Orangemen,  Ger- 
mans, Frenchmen,  Chinese,  or  Hottentots,  whether  two 
or  ten  thousand,  should  be  defended  in  their  rights ; 
that  a  frenzied  mob,  though  composed  of  infuriated 
Romanists,  must  respect  the  fundamental  principle  of 
American   liberty,   or   take    the    consequences.      The 


POPERY   THE   ENEMY   OF    CIVIL    LIBERTY.  255 

bigoted  intolerance  of  their  enemies  thus  tlirust  a  small 
but  heroic  band  of  Orangemen  into  a  prominence  which 
they  had  otherwise  in  all  probability  never  attained  j 
securing  for  them  the  warm  sympathy  of  every  true 
patriot.  These  accidental  representatives  of  a  principle 
ever  dear  to  the  American  people  were  escorted — all 
honor  to  the  Governor  of  New  York — by  the  militia 
and  police,  the  superintendent  joj^ously  redeeming  him- 
self from  the  deep  infamy  to  which  political  trickery 
had  so  nearly  consigned  him.  Yet,  notwithstanding 
the  armed  escort,  an  attack  with  clubs,  brick-bats  and 
firearms  was  made,  necessitating  a  return  fire  from 
the  defenders  of  law  and  order,  and  leaving  more  than 
a  score  of  dead  bodies,  and  over  two  hundred  wounded, 
to  mark  the  scene  of  Popery's  ardent  devotion  to  liberty. 
Eighth  avenue  and  Twenty-third  street  witnessed  the 
inculcation  of  a  lesson  which  it  is  earnestly  hoped  will 
be  long  remembered  alike  by  Protestants  and  Catholics ; 
by  the  former  as  evincing  the  spirit  of  Popery,  by  the 
latter  as  an  indication,  in  fact  an  emphatic  declaration, 
that  Protestants,  at  least  in  their  own  land,  will  reso- 
lutely defend  the  principles  of  Republican  Government. 
We  are  told,  however,  that  not  Eomanists,  but 
Hibernians,  a  class  of  persons  only  nominally  Catho- 
lics, are  responsible  for  the  riot  and  its  accompanying 
horrors ;  that  the  priests,  foreseeing  the  dangers,  urged 
their  congregations  not  to  interfere  with  the  proposed 
procession ;  that  Archbishop  McCloskey  exhorted  his 
flock  "  to  make  no  counter  demonstration  of  any  kind." 


256  POPERY    THE    ESEMY   OF    CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

He  referred,  however,  with  exceedmg  bitterness  to  the 
Orangemen,  and  expressed  it  as  his  deep  conviction 
that  the  parade  ought  not  to  be  permitted.  It  is 
undeniably  true  that  Catholics,  with  scarcely  a  dis- 
senting voice,  said,  with  an  emphasis  not  to  be  mis- 
taken, "  Protestants  as  a  body  shall  not  parade  in  the 
streets  of  New  York."  And  the  entire  Catholic  press 
of  New  York — the  Tablet  alone  excepted — studiedly 
ignored  the  bare  existence  of  Protestant  rights.  Among 
the  headings  of  their  leading  editorials,  after  the  riot, 
were  the  following :  ''  GoyerjSTOR  Hoffmax's  Bloody 
Procession !  "  "  Is  John  T.  Hoffman,  Governor  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  a  Murderer?"  "  Hoffman's  Holo- 
caust!" "Hoffman's  Massacre!"  "Our  Oran2;e 
Governor ! "  etc.* 

The  psychological  explanation  of  such  hearty  devo- 
tion to  liberty  w^e  scarcely  know  how  to  make.  \Ye 
would  sooner  attempt '  to  explain  how  some  men — 
"  midway  from  nothing  to  the  Deity  " — succeed  in  con- 

*  "We  call  upon  the  friends  of  the  murdered  citizens,  by  every 
duty  which  they  owe  to  society  and  to  themselves,  to  raise  this  issue 
at  the  proper  tribunals  of  the  country,  and  impeach  Gov.  Hoffman 
before  a  jury  of  his  peers  to  answer  to  a  charge  of  murder." — The 
Irish  People. 

"  Gov.  Hoffman  is  answerable  for  the  whole  of  it,  and— we  say  it 
with  pain— is  guilty  of  every  drop  of  blood  shed  that  day." — Tlie  Irish 
Citizen. 

"  Let  the  cry  of  the  orphan,  whose  home  he  has  left  desolate,  blast 
him  !  And  let  the  hot  tear  of  the  widow,  whose  heart  he  has  madrv 
sere,  rot  him  in  his  pride  of  place  and  imperious  despotism  I 

"The  sfreatest  mistake  made  in  the  whole  massacre  business  seems 


POPERY   THE  ENEMY   OF    CIVIL   LIBERTY.         2.j7 

vincliig  themselves  that  they  are  atheists,  notwith- 
standing the  entire  class  have  so  far  signally  failed  in 
persuading  the  world  that  a  genuine  consistent  atheist 
has  ever  existed.  Possibly  we  might  conceive  an 
explanation  of  the  singular  phenomenon  that  human 
beings,  possessed  of  bodies,  living  on  the  earth,  eating 
bread,  and  drinking  laudanum-negus,  can  reason 
themselves  into  the  belief  that  they  are  really  idealists, 
believing  that  the  entire  material  universe,  with  its 
myriad  forms  of  life,  is  a  mere  phantom,  a  conception 
of  their  own  brain.  Nor  is  it,  j)erhaps,  entirely  impos- 
sible to  imagine  how  some  may  dream  themselves  into 
the  belief  that  God  is  everything,  and  everything  God ; 
that  this  impersonal,  unconscious  Deity  sighs  in  the 
wind,  smiles  in  the  sunbeam,  glitters  in  the  dewdrop, 
rustles  in  the  leaf,  moans  in  the  ocean,  speaks  in  the 
thunder ;  that  each  person  is  part  and  parcel  of  God,  a 
visible  manifestation  of  the  Invisible,  one  conscious 
drop  of  the  unconscious  ocean  of  being,  existing  for  a 
brief  moment  between  two  vast  eternities,  a  past  and  a 

to  be  that  Mayor  Hall  did  not  arrest  Jon:N^  T.  Hoffman  for  inter- 
fering with  the  peace  of  the  city." — The  Irish  World. 

"  The  'sober  second  thought'  of  the  people,  lately  so  excited,  will 
consign  John  T.  Hoffman  to  the  obscurity  from  which  he  has  arisen 
by  luckier  manojuvrings." — Freeman''s  Journal. 

The  Society,  formed  on  the  day  of  the  riot,  in  Hibernia  Hall,  "by 
the  unanimous  decision  of  all  patriotic  Irish  soldiers  present,"  and 
which,  it  was  affirmed,  should  prove  "no  delusion,"  among  others  of 
similar  import,  unanimously  passed  the  following  resolution  : — "  That 
we  call  upon  all  Irishmen  in  these  States  to  form  themselves  into  a 
combination  for  self-protection." 
17 


258         POPERY   THE   ENEMY   OF   CIVIL   LIBERTY. 

future ;  coming,  we  know  not  whence ;  going,  we  know 
not  whither,  a  troubled  thought  in  the  dream  of  half- 
sleeping  nature ;  sinking,  like  the  ripple  on  the  ocean, 
upon  the  heaving  bosom  of  emotionless  Infinitude.  We 
might  even  venture  a  defence,  or  at  least  an  apology, 
of  the  custom  prevalent  in  Siam,  of  exposing  the  mother, 
for  one  month  after  the  delivery  of  a  child,  on  a 
cushionless  bench  before  a  roasting  fire.  Nay,  we 
might  even  undertake  to  explain  the  couvade — a  cus- 
tom widely  prevalent  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and 
even  now,  Max  Muller  informs  us,  extant  among  the 
Mau-tze ;  according  to  which  the  father  of  a  new-born 
child,  as  soon  as  its  mother  regains  her  accustomed 
strength,  goes  to  bed,  and  there,  fed  on  gruel,  tapioca, 
and  that  quintessence  of  insipidness,  panada,  receives 
the  congratulations  of  his  friends.  Even  this  custom, 
.ridiculous  as  it  is,  and  which  prompted  Sir  Hudibras 

to  say, — 

"  Chineese  go  to  bed, 
And  lie-in  in  their  ladies'  stead," 

is  susceptible  of  an  explanation  at  least  semi-rational. 
But  how  to  explain  the  idiosyncrasies  of  our  Irish 
fellow-citizens,  how  to  reconcile  their  conduct  with  their 
oft  reiterated  protestations  of  devotion  to  civil  liberty, 
we  know  not.  Call  that  liberty  which  has  naught  of 
liberty  save  its  name,  which  has  all  of  despotism  save 
its  manliness !  Such  faith  as  that  which  prompts 
Catholics  to  denominate  Popery  the  stanch  defender 
of  freedom — if  it  be  faith — we  have  seldom,  if  indeed 


POPERY  THE  ENEMY  OF   CIVIL   LIBERTY.         259 

ever,  found,  certainly  not  among  Protestant  Americans, 
scarcely  among  the  Communists  of  Paris,  or  the  en- 
lightened citizens  of  Terra  del  Fuego. 

And  what  interpretation  shall  be  given  to  this  sad, 
this  long-drawn  wail  of  the  Papal  Church,  in  all  parts 
of  the  United  States,  over  the  Pope's  loss  of  temporal 
jDower?*  As  he  and  the  Catholic  Episcopate  have  de- 
clared the  civil  sovereignty  indispensably  necessary  to 
the  due  exercise  of  his  rightful  spiritual  supremacy, 
these  liberty-loving  Americans — having  escaped  from 
the  cruel  oppression  of  Catholic  governments  to  pro- 
claim themselves  the  stanch  friends  of  liberty — are 
holding  meetings,  in  cathedrals,  in  public  squares,  form- 
ing processions,  making  speeches,  and  signing  protests 
against — what? — against  that  cruel  despotism  which 
has  for  centuries  disgraced  the  "  States  of  the  Church  ?" 
No ;  against  the  liberation  of  a  people  who  have  been 
long  hoping  and  struggling  for  freedom,  and  who  have 
been  kept  down,  only  by  foreign  bayonets  in  the  hands 
of  Catholics,  by  the  ill-fated  Napoleon,  and  the  mis- 
guided Papal  Zouaves. 

And  these  protests — "full  of  sound  and  fury,  sig- 
nifying nothing,"  reiterating  for  the  thousandth  time 

*  The  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  ia  a  plea  with  Catholic  ladies, 
affirms  : — "  Their  Father  in  Christ,  like  St.  Peter,  is  in  chains,  robbed 
of  the  very  necessaries  of  life,  reduced  to  the  very  verge  of  want,  and 
almost — starvation,  and  wholly  at  the  mercies  of  his  enemies,  who 
are  also  the  enemies  of  Christ,  and  of  all  religion,  and  all  virtue." 
To  call  this  a  liberal  draft  upon  an  excited  imagination  is  too  mild, 
too  charitable  entirely. 


260         POPERY   THE  ENEMY   OF   CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

the  infamous  falsehood,  "  The  Church  in  chains," 
"  Peter  in  prison,"  and  entirely  ignoring  the  rights  of 
the  people  who  have  deliberately  chosen  Italian  unity 
— all  claim  temporal  power  for  the  Pope ;  many,  sanc- 
tioned by  office-hunting  politicians,  even  denying  the 
validity  of  any  plebiscitum  against  the  Pope's  sovereign 
rights,  even  when  fairly  and  freely  taken/''  Certainly 
these  lengthy  and  carefully  prepared  documents — now 
crowding  the  pages  of  every  Catholic  paper,  and  making 
them,  which  is  evidently  needless,  even  more  intensely 
political  than  ever  before — may  be  legitimately  denomi- 
nated. The  solemn  Protest  of  American  Papists  against 
Eepublican  forms  of  Government,  against  the  Liberties 
of  the  People. 

\Yhat  is  to  be  the  end  of  all  this  bluster  and  war  of 
words  ?  If  the  Catholic  papers  are  to  be  believed,  there 
is  to  be  no  rest — movements  creating  sentiment,  senti- 
ment distilling  into  purpose,  purpose  developing  into 
action,  war  in  Italy,  crusades  from  America,  havoc  and 
bloodshed — till  the  Vicar  of  Christ  is  again  on  his 
throne. f 

*  In  the  Philadelphia  protest,  read  at  a  meeting  which,  according 
to  the  Freeman''s  Journal,  numbered  30,000,  this  language  occurs  :— 
"  We  do  not  believe  that  the  '  States  of  the  Church  '  ever  did,  or  now 
'  do,  desire  Italian  unity ;  hut  even  if  they  did,  they  had  no  right  to  de- 
mand /i." 

The  same  thing  is  affirmed  in  the  Catholic  World,  'Nov.,  1870,  p.  284. 

t  See  Freeman''s  Journal,  Dec.  10th,  17th,  24th,  and  31st,  1870,  etc. 

"  If  there  is  nothing  but  a  stupid  grunt  in  response  to  the  call  of 
God,  then  there  will  be  in  this  land  of  ours  either  a  bloody  persecu- 
tion or  an  infamous  apostasy." — Freeman^ s  Journal,  Yeh.  11,  1871. 


POPERY   TEE  ENEMY   OF    CIVIL   LIBERTY.         2G1 

All  over  Europe  men  are  volunteering  to  join  the 
crusade  against  popular  government.  Funds  are  pour- 
ing into  the  Pope's  treasury.  The  faithful,  even  in 
democratic  America,  are  asked  to  contribute.  And  the 
response  has  been  such  as  to  inspire  bishops  and  arch- 
bishops, and  even  the  despondent  Pope  himself,  with 
ne'w*  energy  and  fresh  hopes.  In  Baltimore,  at  the 
Pontifical  Jubilee,  (the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the 
accession  of  Pius  IX.  to  the  Papal  throne,)  that  "  beam 
from  the  immortal  throne  of  St.  Peter,"  that  "jewel  fit 
to  be  placed  in  the  Tiara,"  when,  according  to  Catholic 
authority,  "  twenty  thousand,  by  receiving  communion 
for  Our  Holy  Father,  promised  to  do  all  in  their  power 
to  effect  his  restoration,"  sixty  men,  dressed  in  the  uni- 
form of  the  Papal  Zouave,  knelt  by  the  communion 
rails  in  St.  James,  "not  as  an  idle  pageant,  not  for 
mere  form's  sake,  but  to  proclaim  what  they  and  the 
Catholic  Church  will  do  w^ien  the  time  comes.  By 
this  they  have  given  pledge  of  their  espousal  of  the 
cause  of  the  captive  Pontiff."  *  St.  Peter,  a  new  Catho- 
lic paper  of  New  York,  says  : — "  To  say  it  (the  crusade) 

*  "  This  is  not  an  act  of  transitory  fervor,  or  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
hour.  By  this  act  the  CathoUcs  of  the  United  States  of  America 
have  taken  their  stand  with  those  of  Europe  and  Canada.  The 
fervor  and  enthusiasm  of  the  hour  will  settle  down  into  permanent 
and  determined  resolve,  and  by  union  with  all  parts  of  Christendom 
take  a  tangible  and  defined  purpose.  It  is  what  the  Pope  predicted 
in  saying  that  if  union  of  action,  resulting  from  identity  of  thought 
and  feeling,  be  amongst  Catholics,  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail." 
— Correspondence  of  Freemaii's  Journal,  July  S,  3.871. 


2G2         POPERY  THE  ENEMY  OF   CIVIL  LIBERTY. 

is  not  necessary,  is  equivalent  to  denying  the  necessary 
right  of  self-defence.  Catholics  have,  by  degrees,  seen 
themselves  despoiled  by  the  revolution  of  their  most 
precious  rights.  We  have  been  patient,  but  we  will 
not  be  slaves.  What  form  the  new  crusade  may  take 
we  know  not ;  but  a  crusade  there  truly  will  be  to  de- 
liver the  Sepulchre  of  Peter  and  the  Catholic  world." 

And  the  methods  employed  in  securing  funds  for  this 
and  similar  holy  purposes  are  indeed  worthy  the  in- 
ventive genius  of  St.  Dominic.  Among  others,  all 
shrewd,  the  raffle  for  the  Pope's  sacred  snuff-box  strikes 
the  infidel  world  as  characteristically  ingenious.  The 
Prisoner  Pope,  "  the  most  august  of  the  poor,"  gave, 
March  17,  1871,  to  Dr.  Giovanni  Acquiderni,  President 
of  the  upper  council  of  the  association  of  the  Catholic 
youth  of  Italy,  "his  gold  snuff-box,  exquisitively 
carved  with  two  symbolic  lambs  in  the  midst  of  flowers 
and  foliage,"  to  be  disposed  of  for  the  benefit  of  Holy 
Mother  Church.  Dr.  Acquiderni,  "  anxious  speedily  to 
fulfil  the  sacred  desire  of  the  octogenarian  Father  and 
Pontiff,"  opened  a  general  subscription  of  offerings  of 
one  franc  each.  All  good  Catholics  in  the  United 
States  were  earnestly  exhorted  to  contribute  twenty 
cents,  and  thereby  secure  a  chance  of  one  day  possess- 
ing this  sacred  souvenir.  They  were  assured — lest 
possibly  lack  of  confidence  might  lessen  the  subscrip- 
tion— that  "  at  the  completion  of  the  Pontifical  Jubilee, 
Dr.  Acquiderni  will  have  an  urn  prepared  containing 
as  many  tickets  as  there  may  be  franc  ofierings,  and  in 


POPERY  THE  ENEMY   OF   CIVIL    LIBERTY.  263 

the  presence  of  a  Notary  Public,  proceed  to  the  ex- 
traction of  the  fortunate  name  that  will  indicate  the 
new  possessor  of  the  snuff-box  of  Pope  Pius  IX.,  which 
will  be  immediately  sent  to  the  address  marked  after 
his  signature  in  the  subscription  list." 

"What  Patrick  or  Bridget  was  the  fortunate  drawer  of 
this  matchless  prize,  the  uninitiated  have  not  yet 
learned.  Infallibility — if  it  is  important  the  world 
should  know — will  no  doubt  inform  us,  explaining,  per- 
chance, at  the  same  time  the  full  import  of  those  two 
symbolic  lambs,  symbols  of  a  world-wide  crusade. 

As  Protestants  we  have  no  fears.  If  Popery,  in  de- 
fying the  common  conscience  of  humanity,  resisting  the 
spirit  of  the  age,  and  challenging  the  scorn  of  its  own 
most  liberal-minded  men,  wishes  to  commit  suicide,  let 
it  go  on. 

Already  Catholics,  "standing  afar  off,"  in  Ireland, 
England,  Germany,  Oregon,  Washington,  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  in  every  country  and  city,  are  mournfully 
exclaiming,  "Alas,  alas!  that  great  city,  that  mighty 
city,  for  in  one  hour  is  thy  judgment  come." 

Nor  has  Romanism  shown  less  hostility  to  another 
principle  of  our  national  life,  the  separation  of  Church 
and  State.  This,  which  Protestants  have  ever  viewed 
as  one  of  the  defences  of  civil  liberty,  has  been  and 
now  is  the  object  of  incessant  attack.  Almost  every 
Pope  for  the  last  thousand  years  has  pronounced  it  a 
"  damnable  heresy."  Schleigel,  a  member  of  the  Leo- 
pold  Foundation,   in   lecturing    to  the  crowned  heads 


264         POPERY   THE   ENEMY   OF   CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

of  Europe  with  the  design  of  showing  the  mutual  sup- 
ports which  Popery  and  monarchy  lend  to  and  receive 
from  each  other,  said : — "  Church  and  State  must 
always  be  united,  and  it  is  essential  to  the  existence 
of  each  that  a  Pope  be  at  the  head  of  the  one,  and  an 
Emperor  at  the  head  of  the  other  ....  Protestantism 
and  Republicanism  is  the  cause  and  source  of  all  the 
discords,  and  disorders  and  wars  of  Europe."  (Vol. 
iii.  Lect.  17,  p.  286.)  Again  : — "  The  real  nursery  of  all 
these  destructive  principles,  the  revolutionary  schools 
of  France  and  the  rest  of  Europe,  has  been  North 
America."  This  Antichrist,  the  union  of  Church  and 
State,  even  the  Pope  St.  Gregory  himself  being  witness, 
was  cradled  in  Rome. 

Of  Popery's  opposition  to  the  freedom  of  the  press, 
the  free  circulation  of  the  Bible,  and  liberty  of  con- 
science, we  have  no  time  to  speak.  These  may  find  a 
place  in  our  next  Chapter.  Our  task,  in  proving 
Romanism  hostile  to  Republicanism,  is  completed. 
Further  proof  is  needless.  It  must  certainly  be  evi- 
dent to  every  one  of  our  fellow-citizens  that  where  the 
principles  and  spirit  of  Popery  attain  full  power, 
Republicanism  must  soon  perish,  and  over  her  grave, 
the  grave  of  man's  hopes  for  this  life,  the  lordly  priest, 
representative  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  despotism,  shall 
exultingly  shout,  "  Thus  always  :  Popery  alone  has 

PERMANENCY." 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   PAPACY  A  FOE   TO   RELIGIOUS   LIBERTY. 

^l|t||E  presume  it  is  already  manifest  to  every  unbiassed 
reader  that  Romanism  is  a  necessary  and  deter- 
mined enemy  of  all  liberty,  civil  and  religious. 
Her  cardinal  principle  takes  away  the  right  of 
private  judgment,  denying  the  subject  the  privilege  of 
even  obeying  the  clear  teachings  of  conscience,  thus  for- 
bidding him  to  use  the  very  faculties  God  has  given  him, 
and  for  the  proper  exercise  of  which  he  alone  is  account- 
able. The  people  must  receive  their  opinions  from, 
and  rely  implicitly  upon  the  priests ;  these  are  under 
the  spiritual  authority  of  bishops,  and  these  under  the 
Pope.  Hence  he  alone  has  the  right  to  think, — he 
alone  has  liberty:  his  is  absolute.  The  people  have 
an  existence  merely  for  the  good  of  Christ's  vicegerent 
on  earth,  who  owns  them  soul  and  body,  life  and 
property. 

Rome — certainly  none  will  deny — proves  herself  an 
enemy  of  religious  liberty  by  condemning  the  use  of 
the  Bible.  The  Council  of  Trent  declared : — "  It  is 
manifest  from  experience  that  if  the  Holy  Bible,  trans- 
lated into  the  vulgar  tongue,  be  indiscriminately  allowed 

to  every  one,  the  rashness  of  men  will  cause  more  evil 

265 


266     THE  PAPACY  A   FOE    TO  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY. 

than  good  to  arise  from  it."  Accordingly  they  condemn 
its  use,  and  do  everything  in  their  power  to  prevent 
people  from  reading  it.  Societies  for  its  publication 
and  distribution  have  been  repeatedly  condemned  by 
the  Pope.  Surely  an  enemy  of  the  Bible  is  an  enemy 
of  all  liberty — personal  and  national. 

And  this  hostility  to  the  inspiring  cause  of  all  true 
liberty  is  unmistakably  evinced  even  in  the  full-orbed 
light  of  this  nineteenth  century,  and  in  this  Protestant 
country,  which  owes  its  greatness  to  the  unfettered 
Word  of  God.  A  warfare,  bitter,  unrelenting,  almost 
fiendish,  has  been  waged  for  years  against  its  reading 
in  our  common  schools.  Even  in  their  own  schools, 
though  catechisms  and  crucifixes  and  rosaries  are  abun- 
dant, the  Bible,  even  their  own  version,  is  a  rare 
book. 

With  separate  organizations  for  almost  everything, 
the  Romish  Church  has  no  society  for  the  distribution 
of  God's  will  to  men.  In  fact,  they  have  never  yet 
published,  in  the  vernacular,  an  authorized  edition, 
without  note  or  comment.^  Here  is  an  extract  from  the 
version  in  general  use : — "  Images,  pictures  or  repre- 
sentations, even  in  the  house  of  God  and  in  the  very 
sanctuary,  so  far  from  being  forbidden,  are  expressly 

*  St.  Liguori  says: — "The  Scriptures,  and  books  of  controversy, 
may  not  be  permitted  in  the  vernacular  tongue,  as  also  they  cannot 
be  read  without  permission."  Cardinal  Bellarmine  declares : — "  The 
Catholic  Church  forbids  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  by  all,  without 
choice,  or  the  public  reading  or  singing  of  them  in  vulgar  tongues,  as 
it  is  decreed  in  the  Council  of  Trent." 


THE   PAPACY  A    FOE   TO   RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY.     267 

authorized  by  the  "Word  of  God."  (Comment  on  Second 
Commandment.) 

And  even  the  burning  of  Bibles  is  not  yet  one  of  the 
lost  arts;  and  the  immutable  Church  seems  loath  to 
allow  it  to  Become  such.  In  the  year  1842  (Oct.  27), 
at  Champlain,  N.  Y.,  according  to  a  statement  prepared 
and  published  by  four  respectable  citizens  appointed 
for  that  purpose,  a  pile  of  Bibles,  brought  from  the 
priest's  house,  was  set  on  fire,  and  in  open  day,  and  in 
the  presence  of  many  spectators,  hurned  to  ashes.  And 
the  last  year  witnessed  in  unhappy  Popery-cursed 
Spain  a  similar  "  act  of  faith,"  accompanied  by  various 
Catholic  ceremonies,  and  a  tremendous  philippic  against 
the  execrable  heretics. 

Liguori,  one  of  Rome's  canonized  saints,  author  of 
the  "  Glories  of  Mary,"  and  of  a  standard  text-book  on 
Moral  Theology,  exclaims  with  holy  horror : — "  How 
many  simple  girls,  because  they  have  learned  to  read, 
have  lost  their  souls."  The  Freemans  Journal  once 
said : — "  The  Bible  Society  is  the  deepest  scheme  ever 
laid  by  Satan  in  order  to  delude  the  human  family, 
and  bring  them  down  to  his  eternal  possession."  Bishop 
Spots  wood  affirmed : — "  I  would  rather  a  half  of  the 
people  of  this  nation  should  be  brought  to  the  stake 
and  burned,  than  one  man  should  read  the  Bible  and 
form  his  judgments  from  its  contents." 

Catholicism  is  opposed  to  freedom  of  conscience. 
The  Protestant  Church  holds — in  fact  the  true  Church 
in  all  ages  has  held — that  God  alone  is  Lord  of  the 


2G8     THE   PAPACY  A    FOE    TO   RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY. 

conscience,  that  this  right  He  will  not  share  with 
another,  and  that  man  should  allow  no  miserable,  arro- 
gant human  tyrant  to  usurp  the  throne  of  his  Maker. 
Eomanism,  however,  resembles  all  false  religions  in 
claiming  the  right  to  rule  over  the  individual  con- 
science ;  utterly  denying  its  adherents  the  privilege  of 
having  any  opinions  except  according  to  rules  pre- 
scribed by  an  infallible  Church.  One  of  the  recent 
Po^Des  declared  that  "  liberty  of  conscience  is  an  absurd 
and  dangerous  maxim ;  or  rather  the  ravings  of  deli- 
rium." A  bishop  in  the  Council  of  Trent  said,  with 
the  concurrence  and  approbation  of  the  holy  (?)  fathers  : 
— "  Laymen  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  hear  and  sub- 
mit." The  New  York  Tablet  recently  informed  its 
readers : — "  There  is  no  difference  of  opinion  on  this 
subject  (the  temporal  power  of  the  Pope), /or  ice  do  not 
allow  any  difference  on  such  questions.  Tlie  decrees  of 
the  Church  forbid  it.'*  Father  Parrel,  of  St.  Joseph's 
Church,  New  York,  for  the  mortal  sin  of  having  written 
(Jan.  12,  1871)  an  exceedingly  mild  approval  of  a 
public  meeting  in  favor  of  Italian  Unity,  was  peremp- 
torily ordered  by  Archbishop  McCloskey — three  holy 
fathers,  the  council  summoned  to  try  the  case,  and 
several  politicians  demanding  the  order — to  retract  his 
liberal  ideas,  that  every  people  had  a  right  to  choose 
its  own  rulers,  or  immediately  withdraw  from  the 
Church.  So  then  there  is  only  one  mind,  only  one 
conscience  in  the  Catholic  Church.  Priests  are  simply 
mirrors^  to  reflect  the  opinions  and  aims  of  His  Infalli- 


THE   PAPACY  A    FOE    TO    RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY.     2G9 

bility,  Pope  Pius  IX.  What  freedom,  can  men  retain 
after  thus  yielding  the  right  of  private  judgment — 
after  surrendering  conscience  ?  Very  appropriately 
does  one  bom  in  Catholicity,  educated  in  her  doctrines, 
and  still  in  the  enjoj^ment  of  her  services,  ask  : — ''  How 
long  is  this  enlightened  spirit  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury to  continue  pandering  to  such  narrow  bigotry  and 
prejudice  as  this?" 

Romanism  shows  itself  an  enemy  of  religious  liberty, 
by  opposing  the  freedom  of  the  press.  Protestantism 
courts  the  light,  loves  the  truth,  and  invites  discussion, 
believing  that  error  is  inherently  weak,  and  cannot 
present  arguments  which  will  sway  the  enlightened 
conscience  of  the  educated  masses.  It  is  willing;  that 
the  two  should  enter  the  lists,  well  assured  that  the 
former  will  gain  an  easy  victory.  Of  the  freedom  of 
the  press,  it  is,  therefore,  the  stanch  defandant;  it  has 
nothing  to  fear  from  discussion ;  everything  to  hope. 
On  the  other  hand,  of  this  liberty  the  Pope  is  a  deadly 
foe.  He  denominates  it  ''  that  fatal  licence  of  loliicli  ice 
cannot  entertain  too  much  horror T  Weak,  indeed,  must 
be  the  cause  which  dares  not  undertake  its  own  de- 
fence ;  corrupt  must  be  the  Church  that  endeavors  to 
shut  out  the  light  of  God ;  insecure  must  be  the  founda- 
tions of  a  system  of  religion  which  dreads,  and,  as  far 
as  lies  in  its  power,  j^jrohibits  public  discussion.  And 
assuredly  this  hatred  of  a  free  press  is  thoroughly  an- 
tagonistic to  the  spirit  of  the  age. 

Nor  are   Papists  less  hostile  to  another  support  of 


270     THE  PAPACY  A    FOE    TO    RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY. 

religious  liberty,  the  education  of  the  masses.  Rome 
detests  the  very  term,  popular  education.  Her  maxim 
is,  "  Ignorance  is  the  mother  of  devotion"  and  order." 
Accordingly,  we  nowhere  find  in  Catholic  countries 
good  public  school  systems.  They  are  the  glory  of 
Protestant  lands.  In  this  respect  compare  Spain  with 
England;  France  with  Prussia;  Lower  Canada  with 
New  England ;  Ireland  with  Scotland.  In  Protestant 
countries  the  people  are  intelligent,  thrifty,  industrious, 
moral ;  in  Roman  Catholic  nations  the  masses  are  poor, 
degraded,  ignorant,  vicious.  In  Canada  East,  it  is  said, 
not  more  than  one  in  ten  can  read ;  in  Italy  not  one  in 
fifty.  In  Ireland  there  reigns,  even  in  this  day,  the 
ignorance,  superstition  and  brutality  of  the  dark  ages. 
In  Spain,  out  of  a  population  of  less  than  sixteen  mil- 
lions, according  to  the  last  census,  more  than  twelve 
millions  can  neither  read  nor  write.  Certainly  none 
will  deny  that  such  ignorance  endangers  civil  and  reli- 
gious liberty. 

In  face  of  these,  and  countless  similar  facts  which 
might  be  adduced,  how  astounding  the  frequent  asser- 
tions of  the  Papal  literature  of  the  present  day !  The 
Catholic  World,  a  monthly  magazine  published  in  New 
York,  actually  has  the  hardihood  to  affirm*  that 
Catholicism  has  ever  shown  itself  the  guardian  of  civil- 
ization, the  friend  of  liberty,  the  advocate  of  Republican 
forms  of  government ;  that  it  fosters  science,  encourages 
education,  and  places  no  shackles  on  reason.     And  the 

*  June,  1870. 


THE   PAPACY  A    FOE    TO   RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY.     271 

same  periodical  denounces,  in  unmeasured  terms,  the 
civilization  of  the  present  day,  defends  the  Crusades, 
advocates  the  dogma  of  InfaUibility,  asserts  and  re- 
asserts the  immutabihty  of  the  Church,  fights  our 
common  school  system,  and  is  ready  to  deluge 
Italy  in  blood  to  secure  the  restoration  of  the  Pope 
to  temporal  power.*  Does  warmth  of  devotion  to 
the  cause  of  Republicanism  such  as  this  enkindle  a 
flame  on  liberty's  altar?  Do  we  broil  our  beefsteak 
by  the  glowing  fires  of  an  arctic  iceberg?  Shall  we 
intrust  the  cause  we  love  to  the  hands  of  its 
enemies  ? 

Protestantism,  now  as  ever,  boldly  presents  itself  to 
the  world,  challenging  the  fullest  investigation;  de- 
manding an  unfettered  press,  an  open  Bible,  a  free 
platform,  an  untrammelled  conscience,  liberal  education, 
full  discussion  and  fair  play,  having  faith  to  believe  that 
truth  will  ultimately  triumph.  Romanism  fetters  the 
limbs  of  freedom,  represses  independence  of  thought, 
trammels  conscience,  cuts  the  nerve  of  individual 
energy,  and  saps  the  foundations  of  all  true  liberty. 
Father  Farrel  presumes  to  breathe  the  hope  that  Italy 
may  be  free,  and  is  summarily  decapitated.  A  German 
writes  "Janus,"  an  unanswerable  refutation  of  Pajoal 
infallibility ;  his  work  is  placed  in  the  list  of  condemned 
books,  and  Papists  forbidden  to  read  it.  Hyacinthe 
conscientiously  endeavors  to  bring  the  Church  of  his 

*  See  especially  June  and  August,  1870. 


272     THE  PAPACY  A   FOE    TO   RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY. 

love  into  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the  age,  to  extract 
the  molar  teeth  from  the  growling  despot,  and  is 
excommmiicated.  E.  Ffoulkes  candidly  writes  his 
impressions  of  Romanism ;  he  is  excommunicated  and 
his  book  condemned.  Thus  Popery  treats  her  own 
sons. 

Without  religious  liberty,  to  which  Eomanism  has 
ever  shown  herself  an  enemy,  civil  liberty  is  manifestly 
impossible.  To  establish  the  most  perfect  system  of 
Republicanism  in  Spain,  or  Ireland,  would  be  to  cast 
pearls  before  swine.  Despotism,  government  by  brute 
force,  is  the  only  government  fitted,  or  in  fact  possible, 
to  those  who,  having  sold  reason  and  conscience,  are 
ignorant,  prejudiced,  superstitious,  passionate,  brutal. 
Thus  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  at  once  a  school 
and  an  engine  of  despotism.  So  long  as  it  retains  sway, 
promulgating  its  doctrines,  civil  liberty  is  a  boon  beyond 
the  reach  of  its  subjects,  nay,  would  in  fact  be,  as  it 
once  proved  in  France,  and  may  again  soon,  their 
greatest  curse.  What  Catholic  countries  need  is  educa- 
tion, virtue  and  individual  self-restraint,  at  once  fitting 
for,  and  bringing  after  them,  true,  lasting,  heaven-be- 
stowed freedom. 

With  an  apt  quotation  from  Gattini,  the  noted  Ita- 
lian, we  close  this  chapter : — "  Civilization  asks  what 
share  the  Papacy  has  taken  in  its  work.  Is  it  the 
press  ?  Is  it  electricity  ?  Is  it  steam  ?  Is  it  chemical 
analysis  ?  Is  it  free  trade  ?  Is  it  self-government  ?  Is 
it  the  principle  of  nationality  ?     Is  it  the  proclamation 


THE  PAPACY  A  FOE    TO   RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY.     273 

of  the  rights  of  man  ?     Of  the  liberty  of  conscience  ? 
Of  all  this  the  Papacy  is  the  negation."* 

*  Father  Hyacinthe,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  Bishops,  urging  re- 
forms, says: — "The  result,  if  these  documents  (the  Encyclical  and 
Syllabus)  were  treated  seriously,  would  be  to  establish  a  radical  in- 
compatibility between  the  duty  of  a  faithful  Catholic  and  the  duty 
of  an  impartial  student  and  free  citizen." 

18 


CHAPTER     IV. 


POPERY  AND   MORALITY. 


HE  author  of  the  "Invitation  Heeded "  entitles 
one  of  his  chapters,  "  The  Church  the  Guardian 
of  Morals."  Whatever  effect  his  argument  may 
have  had  upon  others,  there  is  one  whom  it  has 
signally  filled  in  convincing.  With  even  increased 
boldness,  we  now  afiirm  that  Popery  is  unfriendly  to 
morality.  We  do  not  affirm  that  Romanists  are  ene- 
mies of  private  and  public  morals ;  nor  deny  that  many 
are  extremely  exemplary,  patterns  of  goodness;  nor 
even  assert  that  they  knowingly  advocate  a  system 
which  is  far  less  efficient  than  Protestantism  in  wedding 
its  adherents  to  a  life  of  morality.  We  make  the 
assertion,  however,  without  the  fear  of  refutation,  that 
Romanism,  as  a  system,  has  failed  in  reforming  the 
morals  of  the  masses.  It  has  been  frequently  said  in 
certain  quarters  that  Protestantism  is  a  failure,  what 
then  shall  be  said  of  Popery?  As  a  moral  educator, 
her  failure  is  deplorable.  Compare  Mexico  and  South 
America  with  the  United  States;  Italy  with  New 
England ;  Spain  with  Scotland ;  the  Protestant  counties 
of  Ireland  with  those  mostly  Popish ;  Ulster  with  Tij> 

perary. 
274 


POPERY  AND  MORALITY.  275 

In  Roman  Catholic  Belgium  there  are,  wo  are 
officially  informed,  eighteen  murders  to  a  million  of  the 
population;  in  France  thirty-one;  in  Bavaria  thirty- 
two;  In  Italy  fifty-two;  in  Protestant  England  four. 
The  illegitimate  births  in  Brussels  are  thirty-five  in  the 
hundred ;  in  Paris  thirty-three ;  in  Vienna  fifty-one  ;  in 
England  five.  In  Chicago,  according  to  the  report  of 
the  Superintendent  of  Police,  the  Irish,  who  are  about 
one-tenth  of  the  entire  population,  supplied,  in  the  year 
1867,  one  hundred  and  seventy-four  more  ofienders  than 
all  the  other  nationalities  together.  During  the  month 
in  which  the  report  was  rendered  (September),  one  in 
eight  of  the  Catholic  voters  reported  at  the  police  court. 
Are  Papists  worse  in  Chicago  than  in  the  other  cities 
of  the  Union  ?     The  Irish  Eejjuhlio  says,  "  No." 

The  West7ni7ister  Gazette,  a  Roman  Catholic  journal, 
recently  made  the  following  acknowledgment : — "  The 
neglected  children  of  London  are  chiefly  our  children, 
and  the  lowest  of  every  class,  whether  thieves  or 
drunkards,  are  Catholics." 

The  Pope's  own  city,  it  is  well  known,  has  been  in 
the  past,  and  is  now,  extremely  immoral.  His  Holiness, 
Alexander  VI.,  for  eleven  years  the  occupant  of  the 
Papal  chair,  the  anointed  head  of  the  so-called  true 
Church,  the  pretended  successor  of  Peter,  gave  a  splen- 
did entertainment  to  fifty  public  jirostitutes  in  the  halls 
of  the  Holy  Vatican.  And  in  our  own  day  no  carica- 
tures are  so  much  enjoyed  in  Rome  as  those  at  the 
expense  of  the  priesthood ;  no  stories  aye  too  astounding 


276  POPERY  AND   MORALITY. 

to  be  believed,  if  against  priests  and  cardinals ;  no  cry 
is  so  emphatic  and  frequent  as  this  : — "  Down  with  the 
priests."  When  those  claiming  sanctity,  wearing  the 
honors  of  the  Church,  careful  in  the  observance  of  her 
forms,  and  zealous  in  extending  her  influence,  are, 
many  of  them,  openly  or  secretly  immoral,  what  is  to 
be  expected  from  the  lower  classes?  If,  according  to 
one  of  their  own  historians,  Baronius,  "  He  w^as  usually 
called  a  good  Pope,  who  did  not  excel  in  wickedness 
the  worst  of  the  human  kind ; "  if  moral  character  is 
not  an  essential  qualification  of  a  legitimate  priest,  but 
spiritual  blessings  of  incalculable  value  may  be  pro- 
nounced by  the  tongue  that  an  hour  before,  in  a 
drunken  revel,  cursed  its  Maker ;  if  grace  flows  through 
an  unbroken  succession  direct  from  Peter,  unimpeded 
in  its  blessed  flow,  as  it  streams  from  the  jewelled 
fingers  of  a  mitered  monster  of  iniquity,  then  assuredly 
unbridled  wickedness  is  excusable  in  the  laity.  Can 
they  see  any  beauty  in  such  holiness  that  they  should 
desire  it?  To  what  organized  iniquity  do  these  re- 
markable words  refer — "  Mother  of  Harlots  and 
Abominations  of  the  Earth?" 

That  profanity  should  prevail  in  Catholic  countries 
none  need  wonder.  The  Popes  have  set  examples  that 
may  challenge  the  blasphemous  ingenuity  of  the  most 
hardened  reprobate.*     Cursing — solemnly  and  deliber- 

*  Take  the  cursing  and  excommunication  of  the  Pope's  alum- 
maker  as  a  specimen  : — "  May  God  the  Father  curse  him  !  May  God 
the  Son  curse  him !    May  the  Holy  Ghost  curse  him !    iMay  the  Holy 


POPERY  AND  MORALITY.  277 

ately  done,  but  cursing  none  the  less — seems  to  be  one 
of  the  functions  of  their  office.  The  Bull  of  Excom- 
munication, dated  Oct.  12,  1869,  pronounces  damnation 
upon  all  apostates  and  heretics,  thus  separating  not 
only  from  the  Church  on  earth,  but  from  the  Church 
in  heaven,  eight  hundred  millions  of  the  human  race, 
cutting  them  off,  as  Romanism  affirms,  from  all  rational 
hope  of  salvation.  Even  this,  alas !  does  not  exhaust 
his  power  of  cursing.  He  fulminates  a  particular 
anathema  against  all  who  knowingly  possess  or  read 
any  book  condemned  by  himself  or  his  predecessors. 

Cross  curse  him !  May  the  Holy  and  Eternal  Virgin  Mary  curse 
him  I  May  St.  Michael  curse  him  1  May  John  the  Baptist  curse 
him !  May  St.  Peter,  and  St.  Paul,  and  St.  Andrew,  and  all  the 
Apostles  curse  him  !  May  all  the  martyrs  and  confessors  curse  him  ! 
May  all  the  saints  from  the  beginning  of  time  to  everlasting  curse 
him  !  May  he  be  cursed  in  the  house,  and  in  the  fields  !  May  he  be 
cursed  while  living,  and  while  dying  !  May  he  be  cursed  in  sitting, 
in  standing,  in  lying,  in  walking,  in  working,  in  eating,  in  drinking  ! 
May  he  be  cursed  in  all  the  powers  of  his  body,  within  and  without  I 
May  he  be  cursed  in  the  hair  of  his  head,  in  his  temples,  his  eye- 
brows, his  forehead,  his  cheeks,  and  his  jaw-bones,  his  nostrils,  his 
teeth,  his  lips,  his  throat,  his  shoulders,  his  arms,  his  wrists,  his 
hands,  his  breast,  his  stomach,  his  reins,  .  .  .  his  legs,  his  feet,  his 
joints,  his  nails  I  May  he  be  cursed  from  the  crown  of  his  head  to 
the  sole  of  his  foot !  May  heaven  and  all  the  powers  therein  rise 
against  him  to  damn  him,  unless  he  repent  and  make  satisfaction ! 
Amen." — Spelman's  Glossary,  p.  206.  If  this  poor  man  is  not  suftering 
in  the  deepest  pit  of  hell,  it's  not  the  Pope's  fault.  He  was  well  cursed. 
If  there  is  any  hope,  even  the  faintest,  then  the  righteous  indignation, 
the  foaming  fulrainations  of  an  infallible  Pope,  are  harmless;  then  we 
more  fortunate  heretics  may  safely  despise  the  feeble  anathemas  pro- 
nounced against  us.  .  * 


278  POPERY  AND   MORALITY. 

As  the  interdicted  list  contains  books  in  most  of  the 
cultivated  languages,  both  ancient  and  modern,  and 
upon  almost  every  subject — Science,  History,  Eeligion, 
Morals,  Metaphysics,  and  Literature,  including  most  of 
our  standard  classics — down  go  the  hopes  of  by  far  the 
greater  number  of  educated  Papists  the  world  over. 
And  then  too,  all  who  impede  the  work  of  the  Church, 
directly  or  indirectly,  especially  such  as  subject  priests 
to  trial  before  civil  courts — which  even  Catholic  nations 
are  now  doing — are  honored  with  a  special  malediction, 
sealing  the  fate  of  many  millions  more.  That  only  a 
select  few  may  escape  a  sound  cursing,  other  classes 
also  are  pronounced  anathema,  all  members  of  secret 
societies — Free  Masons,  Odd  Fellows,  Orangemen,  and 
even  his  own  dear  children,  Ribbonmen  and  Fenians. 
Still  further  to  narrow  the  number  of  the  elect,  a  curse 
is  pronounced  upon  all  Avho  hold  converse  with  excom- 
municated persons,  upon  all  guilty  of  simony,  and  upon 
all  ecclesiastics  presuming  to  grant  absolution  to  excom- 
municants,  except  in  the  article  of  death.  The  whole 
immense  power  of  the  keys  is  exerted^  it  would  seem,  in 
peopling  the  regions  of  the  lost.  "  The  Infallible  teacher 
of  faith  and  morals"  ^Hhe  only  mouth-piece  of  divine 
mercy','  damns  more  than  four-fifths  of  the  human  family. 
Nor  is  the  character  of  Rome's  stanch  adherents,  the 
Jesuits,  any  less  worthy  of  reprehension.  Having 
taken  one  of  the  most  solemn  oaths  ever  administered 
of  unflinching  fidelity  to  the  interests  of  "  Mother 
Church,"  they  are  thenceforth  dead  to  every  sentiment 


POPERY  AND   MORALITY.  279 

of  virtue,  to  every  motive  of  honor,  to  every  feeling  of 
humanity,  unless  these  are  means  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  their  deep-seated  schemes  of  Popish  aggrandize- 
ment. They  have  no  love  of  morality,  no  fear  of  God 
before  their  eyes,  no  chord  of  sympathy  with  suffering 
humanity ;  they  are  simply,  and  almost  solel}^,  unprin- 
cipled, unreasoning,  but  shrewd,  energetic,  untiring 
devotion  to  Rome.  Inheriting  from  their  illiterate 
founder,  Ignatius  Loyola,  a  fanaticism  the  blindest  con- 
ceivable— and  for  that  very  reason  the  most  intense 
possible — they  have  been  during  all  the  years  of  their 
existence  one  of  the  greatest  curses  Europe  has  been 
called  upon  to  endure.* 

Some,  perhaps,  may  be  inclined  to  account  for  the 
increased  prevalence  of  crime  in  Roman  Catholic  coun- 
tries, by  assigning  other  causes  than  the  influence  of 
the  Romish  Church.  But  certainly  human  nature  is 
the  same  in  all  lands ;  and  while  external  mfluences 
and    modifying    circumstances   may   indeed    in   some 

*  The  Parliament  of  France,  in  ordering  their  expulsion  from  the 
Empire  (17G2),  set  forth  their  moral  character  as  follows  : — "  The 
consequences  of  their  doctrines  destroy  the  law  of  nature  ;  break  all 
bonds  of  civil  society  ;  authorize  lying,  theft,  perjury,  the  utmost  un- 
cleanness,  murder  and  all  sins !  Their  doctrines  root  out  all  senti- 
ments of  humanity  ;  excite  rebellion  ;  root  out  all  religion  ;  and  sub- 
stitute all  sorts  of  superstition,  blasphemy,  irreligion  and  idolatry." 

Lord  Macaulay  says  : — "  It  was  alleged,  and  not  without  founda- 
tion, that  the  ardent  public  spirit  which  made  the  Jesuit  regardless 
of  his  ease,  of  his  liberty,  and  of  his  life,  made  him  also  regardless  of 
truth  and  of  mercy ;  that  no  means  which  could  promote  the  interests 
of  his  religion  seemed  to  him  unlawful,  and  that  by  these  interests  he 


280  POPERY  AND   MORALITY. 

measure  affect  the  state  of  morals,  it  is  inconceivable 
that  these  should  universally  operate,  in  all  climates 
and  in  all  ages,  to  the  evident  greater  deterioration  of 
lands  under  the  rule  of  the  Pope.  The  conclusion  is 
irresistible,  that  these  gross  immoralities  are  the  result, 
the  natural  fruit  of  Rome's  teaching.  The  whole  sys- 
tem tends  to  produce  exactly  this  state  of  things. 
^yhen  men  believe  that  the  favor  of  heaven  can  be 
purchased  for  a  few  paltry  dimes,  why  should  they 
endeavor  to  secure  it  by  a  life  of  self-denying  virtue  ? 
Why  follow  the  despised,  humble  and  meanly-attired 
Jesus,  in  the  narrow  way,  wdth  few  companions,  when 
taught  from  early  infancy  to  believe  that  the  gay,  the 
worldly,  and  even  the  immoral,  being  within  the 
Church,  are  sure  of  entering  the  bliss  of  heaven  ?  With 
no  just  sense  of  the  heinousness  of  sin  as  a  violation  of 
divine  law ;  with  no  fear  of  the  righteous  indignation 
of  Almighty  God,  in  fact,  with  conscience  thoroughly 
debauched  by  the  teachings  of  the  priest,  what  shall 

too  often  meant  the  interests  of  his  society.  It  was  alleged  that,  in 
the  most  atrocious  plots  recorded  in  history,  his  agency  could  be 
distinctl}''  traced  ;  that,  constant  only  in  attachment  to  the  fraternity 
to  which  he  belonged,  he  was  in  some  countries  the  most  dangerous 
enemy  of  freedom,  and  in  others  the  most  dangerous  enemy  of  order. 
.  .  .  Instead  of  toiling  to  elevate  human  nature  to  the  noble  standard 
fixed  by  Divine  precept  and  example,  he  had  lowered  the  standard  till 
it  was  beneath  the  average  level  of  human  nature.  ...  In  truth,  if 
society  continued  to  hold  together,  if  life  and  property  enjoyed  any 
security,  it  was  because  common  sense  and  common  humanity  restrained 
men  from  doiyxg  what  the  Society  of  Jesus  assured  them  they  might  with  a 
safe  conscience  cZo." — Vol.  i.,  chap.  6. 


,POPERY  AND   MORALITY.  281 

restrain  them  from  the  commission  of  any  crimes  they 
may  desire  to  commit  ?  Could  any  system  be  devised 
better  fitted  to  spread  vice,  disorder  and  crimes ;  to  dis- 
solve the  bonds  of  society  ?  If  men  were  left  without 
any  religion,  it  is  believed  that  even  the  natural  con- 
science, unenlightened  by  divine  revelation,  would 
prompt  to  a  purer  code  -of  morals  than  that  of 
Rome. 

Another  powerful  agent  in  producing  these  abound- 
ing immoralities,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  is  the  cmi- 
fessional.  The  influence  of  this  can  be  only  bad,  both 
on  the  minds  of  those  who  recount  all  their  sins  to  the 
confessor,  and  on  the  mind  of  the  priest.  The  heart 
of  Father  Confessor  is  a  receptacle  for  all  the  villanies 
and  immoralities  of  an  entire  congregation.  If  these 
do  not  corrupt  even  one  who  holds  his  office  under  the 
authority  of  St.  Peter,  he  must  be  more  than  human. 
But,  alas !  we  have  innumerable  evidences  all  around 
us  that  priests  are  men  of  like  passions  with  others. 
Defiled  in  mind  by  becoming  familiar  with  forms  of  sin, 
the  listener  becomes  the  tempted ;  the  tempted  becomes 
the  tempter. 

And  the  maxims  laid  down  for  the  direction  of  con- 
fessors in  the  discharge  of  their  duties  with  the  faithful 
are  worthy  a  passing  notice.  "After  a  son  has  robbed 
his  father,  as  a  compensation,  the  confessor  need  not 
enforce  restitution,  if  he  has  taken  no  more  than  the 
just  recompense  of  his  labor."  "  Servants  may  steal 
from  their  masters  as  much  as  they  judge  their  labor 


282  POPERY  AND   MORALITY. 

is  worth  more  than  the  wages  thej  receive."  *  There 
would  seem  to  be  some  virtue  in  doing  the  deed  secretly. •\ 
Are  we  to  infer  that  Papists,  like  the  ancient  Spartans, 
deem  theft  honorable,  if  so  adroitly  done  as  to  escape 
detection?  And  how  convenient  the  standard  by 
which  to  determine  how  much  may  be  taken  without 
sin — as  much  as  the  Catholic  judges  his  or  her  services 
worth  more  than  the  wages  received.  Some  servants, 
under  such  instruction,  learn  to  set  a  very  high  esti- 
mate on  their  labors.  Not  only  may  servants  steal 
from  their  employers,  but  wives  may  from  their  hus- 
bands. "A  woman  may  take  the  property  of  her 
husband  to  supply  her  spiritual  wants,  and  to  act  as 
other  women  act." 

According  to  the  moral  theology  of  Liguori,  "  To 
strike  a  clergyman  is  sacrilege ; "  but,  "  It  is  lawful  for 
a  person  to  sell  poison  to  one  who,  he  believes,  will  use 
it  for  bad  purposes,  provided  the  seller  cannot  refrain 
from  selling  it  without  losing  his  customer."  It  is  like- 
wise lawful  to  keep  a  concubine,  to  shelter  prostitutes, 
to  rent  them  a  house,  and  to  carry  messages  between 
them  and  their  gallants.  "  In  case  of  doubt  whether  a 
thing  which  is  commanded  be  against  the  command- 

*  See  Molina,  vol.  ii.  p.  1150. 

t  The  Catechism  approved  by  French  Bishops — their  catechisms, 
like  their  prayer-books,  are  unnumbered— asks,  "  Is  one  always 
guilty  of  robbery  when  he  takes  the  property  of  another  ?  No.  It 
might  happen  that  he  whose  goods  he  takes  has  no  right  to  object. 
For  instance,  xohen  he  takes  in  secret  of  his  neighbor  by  way  of  com- 
pensation.''^ 


POPERY  AND   MORALITY.  283 

ment  of  God,  the  subject  is  bound  to  obey  the  command 
of  his  superior."  The  same  high  authority  assures  us 
that  gambling,  betting,  disobedience  of  parents,  glut- 
tony, vain-glory,  hypocrisy,  opening  another's  letters, 
babbling,  scurrility,  and  the  ordination  of  drunkards 
and  debauchees  to  the  priesthood,  are  lawful  under 
certain  circumstances.  Condemning  the  Wycliffites  for 
opposing  simony,  he  makes  an  excuse  for  its  prevalence 
in  the  Romish  Church.  "A  voluntary  confession  to  a 
priest,"  he  affirms,  "  is  a  sign  of  contrition." 

For  the  practical  carrying  out  of  their  cherished 
principle,  "The  end  justifies  the  means,"  the  injured 
Catholic  may  read,  "  If  a  calumniator  will  not  cease  to 
publish  calumnies  against  you,  you  may  fitly  kill  him, 
not  publicly,  but  secretly,  to  avoid  scandal."  Again  : — 
"  It  is  lawful  to  kill  an  accuser,  whose  testimony  may 
jeopard  your  life  and  honor."  And  to  make  this  code 
of  infamous  morals  as  convenient  as  possible,  it  is  fur- 
ther affirmed : — "  In  all  the  above  cases,  when  a  man 
has  a  right  to  kill  any  person,  another  may  do  it  for 
him,  if  affection  move  the  murderer." 

"We  know  it  may  indeed  be  said,  these  precepts  are 
not  widely  known,  nor  generally  practised;  they  are 
only  found  in  Rome's  books ;  they  are  merely  a  portion 
of  the  legacy  of  the  dark  ages,  and  to  hold  Rome  to 
account  for  them  is,  in  every  sense,  and  to  the  highest 
degree,  unfair.  No,  not  unfair;  for  immutability 
changes  not,  and  a  Church  which  assumes  the  right  to 
place  its  ban  on  every  immoral  issue  from  the  press,  to 


284  POPERY  AND  MORALITY. 

tell  the  world  what  to  believe,  what  to  read,  and  now 
to  act,  and  has  gone  to  the  most  distant  publishing 
houses  of  the  civilized  world  to  drag  thence  for  con- 
demnation the  principles  of  Protestantism,  might  surely 
take  the  trouble  to  expunge  these  and  similar  teachings 
from  books  written  by  her  own  sons,  and  once  sanc- 
tioned. 

The  practice  of  the  Popes  in  dispensing  with  oaths, 
obligations  and  contracts,  and  absolving  subjects  from 
allegiance  to  their  lawful  sovereigns  in  cases  where 
kings  rebel  against  the  authority  of  Rome,  has  had  no 
little  influence  in  producing  immoralities.  It  is  a  prin- 
ciple with  Rome  that  "no  faith  is  to  be  kept  with 
heretics."  * 

And  this  dogma  of  Roman  Infallibility  has  on  several 
occasions  been  practically  interpreted.  John  Huss  was 
conducted  to  the  Council  of  Constance,  under  the 
solemn  pledge  of  protection  from  the  Emperor.  The 
Council,  however,  condemned  the  reformer  as  a  heretic, 

*  Gregory  IX.  decreed  : — "  Be  it  known  to  all  who  are  under  the 
dominion  of  heretics,  that  they  are  set  free  from  every  tie  of  fealty 
and  duty  to  them ;  all  oaths  and  solemn  agreement  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding."  Pope  Innocent  YIIL,  in  his  bull  against  the 
"Waldenses,  gave  his  nuncio  full  authority  "  to  absolve  all  who  are 
bound  by  contract  to  assign  and  pay  anything  to  them,"  Gregory 
YII.,  in  a  solemn  council  held  at  Eome,  enacted  : — "We,  following 
the  statutes  of  our  predecessors,  do,  by  our  Apostolic  authority, 
absolve  all  those  from  their  oath  of  fidelity  who  are  bound  to  excom- 
municate persons,  either  by  duty  or  oath,  and  we  loose  them  from 
every  tie  of  obedience."  Martin  V.  says  : — "  Be  assured  thou  sinnest 
mortally,  if  thou  keep  thy  faith  with  heretics." 


POPERY  AND   MORALITY.  285 

and  ordered  him  to  be  burned  at  the  stake.  In  vain 
the  Emperor  interposed,  pleading  his  pledged  word  of 
honor.  It  was  solemnly  decreed  : — "  The  person  who 
has  given  the  safe  conduct  to  come  thither  shall  not, 
in  this  case,  be  obliged  to  keep  his  promise,  by  what- 
ever tie  he  may  have  been  engaged ; "  and  poor  Huss 
perished  in  the  flames  !  Did  ever  ingenuity  in  devising 
rules  of  casuistry  excel  this  ?  It  is  only  equalled  by 
the  treachery  of  Judas.  And  even  he,  without  at- 
tempting a  defence  of  faithlessness,  exclaimed,  in  the 
bitterness  of  remorse,  "  I  have  sinned."  But  Rome,  to 
this  day,  has  never  expressed  the  slightest  regret  in 
having — not  merely  on  this  occasion,  but  on  hundreds 
of  others — deliberately  broken  faith,  and  consigned  to 
the  rack,  the  dungeon,  or  the  flames  those  whose  only 
crime  was,  that  they  loved  Christ,  the  Bible,  and  a 
pure  Christianity  more  than  the  Scarlet  Mother  on  the 
seven  hills  of  Rome. 

In  remembrance  of  such  deeds,  it  is  with  a  sense  of 
holy  satisfaction  that  the  follower  of  Jesus  reads, 
"  Her  sins  have  reached  unto  heaven,  and  God  hath 
remembered  her  iniquities."  And  the  prayer  of  the 
devout  soul  is,  "  Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly ; " 
vindicate  truth  and  justice;  let  the  angel's  voice  be 
heard  above  the  waves  of  earth's  turmoil,  saying,  "  Is 
fallen,  is  fallen,  Babylon  the  great." 

Did  space  permit  we  might  easily  prove  that  un- 
blushing atheism  is  a  natural  fruit  of  Popery.  In  every 
Catholic  country  of  the  present  day  the  more  intelligent 


2S6  POPERY  AND  MORALITY. 

classes  are  either  infidel  or  atheistic.     Without  pausing 
to  ascertain  whether  Popery  is  condemned  or  taught  in 
Scripture,  but  presuming  it  is  all  it  claims  to  be,  the 
only  form  of  religion  having  the  sanction  of  the  Bible, 
they  deliberately  reject   God's   Word    as  a   guide   to 
morality,  holiness    and   happiness.     To   receive    as    a 
boon  from  our  Father  in  heaven  a  book  which,  it  is  be- 
lieved, wrongly  indeed,  yet  firmly  believed,  sanctions 
such  enormities,  is  justly  considered  a  slander  on  the 
Creator.     Accordingly,  i\\ej  look  upon  it  as  a  cunningly 
devised  fable,  admirably  adapted  to  bind  the  fetters  of 
despotism  on  an  ignorant  people,  precisely  fitted  to  up- 
hold and  enrich  an  arrogant  priesthood,  but  no  guide  to 
the  sin-burdened  soul  on  the  way  to  eternal  favor  with 
God.     Some,  however,  of  the  educated  in  Romish  coun- 
tries, perhaps  the  greater  number,  do  not  pause  short 
of  atheism.     In  rejecting  a  system  of  religion  which 
cannot  command  even  common  respect,  the}^,  alas !  re- 
ject also  the  triune   God,  wlio,  although  worthy  the 
devout   homage  of  every  heart,  is  so  dishonored  by 
those  who  profess  to  serve  him,  as  to  be  despised  by 
those  outside  the  Church  claiming  to  be  his.     By  the 
excesses  of  Popery  they  are  drawn  away  from  the  Bible 
and  God,  and  driven  into  atheism.     Consciously  or  un- 
consciously they  have  reasoned,  if  this   be  the  true 
religion  of  the  true  God  (and  they  who  claim  talent, 
knowledge  and  piety  so  affirm),  then  we  deliberately 
prefer   to    believe   there   is   no    God.       The    atheism, 
which,  in  the  bloody  excesses  of  the   French  Revolu- 


POPERY  AND   MORALITY.  287 

tion,  disgraced  humanity,  was  the  legitimate  oflfspriug 
of  Romanism. 

With  the  testimony  of  Coleridge  as  to  the  ruinous 
moral  effects  of  Popery,  we  close  : — "  When  I  contem- 
plate the  whole  system  of  Romanism  as  it  affects  the 
great  principles  of  morality,  the  terra  firma,  as  it  were, 
of  our  humanity;  then  trace  its  operations  on  the 
sources  and  conditions  of  human  strength  and  well 
being ;  and  lastly,  consider  its  woeful  influence  on  the 
innocence  and  sanctity  of  the  female  mind  and  imagi- 
nation ;  on  the  faith  and  happiness,  the  gentle  fragrancy 
and  unnoticed  ever-present  verdure  of  domestic  life,  I 
can  with  difficulty  avoid  applying  to  it  the  Rabbi's 
fable  of  the  fratricide,  Cain — that  the  firm  earth  trem- 
hled  luherever  he  trod,  and  the  grass  turned  hlach 
beneath  his  feet." 


CHAPTER  V. 


POPERY   UNCHANGED. 


JijlJN  some  resjDects  Popery  has  indeed  changed,  not- 
^ll  withstanding  her  boasted  claim  of  immutability. 
Pius  IX.,  the  world's  "  infallible  teacher  in  faith 
and  morals,"  though  the  successor  of  Gregory  VII., 
would  find  exceeding  great  difficulty  in  forcing  a  modern 
Henry  lY.  to  stand  in  the  court  of  his  palace,  hungry 
and  shoeless,  humbly  pleading  during  three  successive 
days  from  morning  till  night — the  Holy  Father  mean- 
while enjoying  the  society  of  an  intelligent,  beautiful, 
honored  countess,  his  illegitimately  endeared  friend — 
for  the  superlative  privilege  of  kissing  the  toe  of  him, 
"  appointed  of  heaven  to  pull  down  the  pride  of  kings." 
Popery,  so  far  as  regards  the  respect  it  is  able  to  com- 
mand, has  greatly  changed  since  the  twelfth  century, 
when  kings  considered  themselves  honored  in  being 
permitted  to  lead  by  the  bridle  rein  the  sacred  horse,  or 
even  the  holy  mule,  that  bore  Christ's  Vicar.  Now  his 
Holiness  begs  the  favors  he  no  longer  can  command, 
soliciting  Peter's  pence  from  those  despising  his  anathe- 
mas ;  impotently  imploring  the  support  of  bishops  who 
scorn  his  holy  indignation.  Urban  VITI.  condemned  as 
"  perverse  in  the  highest  degree "  the  doctrine  of  the 

288 


POPERY   UNCHANGED.  289 

earth's  revolution.  His  successors,  with  as  much  grace 
as  possible,  have  silently  yielded  to  the  inevitable. 
Now  this  little  orb  is  allowed  to  revolve,  no  one,  not 
even  an  infallible  Pope,  objecting.  Formerly,  and  even 
now  in  countries  purely  popish,  agencies  for  disseminat- 
ing religious  literature  must  incur  anathema;  now,  as 
the  press  is  a  powerful  agent  in  moulding  public  senti- 
ment, the  Catholic  Publication  Society  of  New  York, 
organized  with  the  sanction  of  the  Pope  for  the  express 
purpose  of  combating  Protestantism  with  its  own 
weapons,  is  issuing  tracts  and  pamphlets  which  in 
Italy  would  even  now,  as  in  former  times,  be  considered 
unfriendly  to  the  sacred  prerogatives  of  God's  vicegerent 
on  earth. 

Whilst  in  methods  of  exhibiting  her  temper,  Rome 
has  changed  somewhat — endeavoring  to  put  old  wine 
into  new  bottles — it  is  undeniably  true  that  in  reality 
she  is  the  same,  unprincipled  monster ;  in  dogma  un- 
altered, in  spirit  unbroken,  unsubdued,  untameable. 
"  Those,"  says  Hallam,  "  who  know  what  Rome  has 
once  been-  are  best  able  to  appreciate  what  she  is."  ^'  It 
is  most  true,"  says  Charles  Butler,  "  that  Roman  Catho- 
lics believe  the  doctrines  of  their  Church  unchangeable ; 
it  is  a  tenet  of  their  creed  that  what  their  faith  ever 
has  been,  such  it  was  from  the  beginning,  such  it  is  now, 
and  such  it  ever  will  be."  What  else  could  be  expected 
from  a  Church  claiming  infallibility  ?  To  alter  its 
dogmas,  or  to  condemn  the  cruel  practices  of  the  past, 
would  be  to  overturn  the  foundation  on  which  it  rests. 
19 


290  POPERY   UNCHANGED. 

Hence  we  search  in  vain  in  tlie  Encyclical  Letters  of  the 
present  for  the  slightest  intimation  that  Popery  has 
changed  its  character  or  purposes.  Has  one  single 
decree  been  revoked  ?  one  solitary  regret  expressed  for 
the  atrocities  which  have  made  her  name  a  synonym 
for  cruelty  ?  Does  any  doctrine  once  held  by  the  Church 
now  lack  strenuous  defenders  ?  All  the  superstitious 
and  idolatrous  practices  of  the  past  find  advocates  in 
the  present, — the  adoration  of  the  host,  the  invocation  of 
saints,  the  granting  of  indulgences,  the  worship  of  the 
Virgin,  the  veneration  of  relics,  absolution  by  the  priest, 
the  cursing  of  '•'  all  heretics,  be  they  kings  or  subjects," 
and  detestation  of  "  Protestantism,  that  damnable  heresy 
of  long  standing." 

Patient  waiting  for  a  return  of  strength,  or  of  a  favor- 
able opportunity,  is  not  change  of  nature.  The  sleeping 
lion,  with  wounded  paws  and  broken  teeth,  is  a  lion 
still.  In  most  countries  Romanism  does  indeed  lack 
the  j)ower  to  execute  its  fiendish  designs ;  and  even  in 
those  nations  almost  exclusively  Roman  Catholic,  it 
would  be  the  acme  of  human  folly  to  insult  the  untram- 
melled conscience  of  Christendom;  but  its  principles, 
doctrines  and  spirit  are  in  no  respect  changed  for  the 
better.  It  is  simply  restrained  by  a  public  sentiment 
which  it  despises  and  does  all  in  its  power  to  break 
down,  which,  however,  it  dares  not  so  far  disregard  as  to 
re-enact  the  untold  horrors  of  the  Inquisition.  This 
would  be  its  certain  destruction.  And  yet,  even  in  re- 
publican America,  it  is  in  spirit  the  same  despotism  it 


POPERY   UNCHANGED.  291 

was  in  Europe.  Of  individual  liberty,  of  education,  of 
the  general  diffusion  of  gospel  truth,  and  of  government 
by  the  people,  it  is  the  same  uncompromising  foe  it  has 
always  been. 

Is  the  Romish  Church  less  eager  for  power  now  than 
during  her  past  history  ?  Certainly  not.  Never  were 
greater  exertions  made  to  retain  the  influence  it  has, 
and  to  recover  what  it  has  lost.  The  Jesuit  order,  which 
has  been  revived  and  inspired  with  new  energy,  is  strain- 
ing every  nerve  to  enlarge  its  numbers  and  secure  a 
controlling  influence  in  legislation,  especially  in  these 
United  States,  with  the  hope  of  ultimately  bringing 
them  under  Papal  domination.  True  to  their  principles 
— deceitful  always — they  laud  the  liberty  of  our  country 
while  forging  the  weapons  for  its  destruction.  Warmed 
into  life  by  our  self-denying  kindness,  like  the  fabled 
serpent,  they  are  distilling  deadly  poison  into  the  bosom 
to  which  they  owe  existence  itself. 

Is  Rome  less  avaricious  now  than  in  the  ages  past?  No. 
Her  system  which,  it  would  seem,  must  have  been  de- 
vised for  the  express  purpose  of  procuring  money — each 
of  her  seven  sacraments  is  a  market,  every  spiritual 
blessing  has  a  price — is  as  admirably  adapted  to  this 
end,  and  as  efficiently  operated  now  as  heretofore.  And 
so  perfect  is  the  machinery  of  this  iniquitous  system  of 
collecting  revenues,  and  so  successfully  is  it  driven,  that 
Catholicism  has  impoverished  every  country  in  which  it 
has  held  sway.  Spain  pays  annually  out  of  her  penury 
fifty  millions  to  the  Romish  Church.     Ireland's  poverty 


292  POPERY    UNCHANGED. 

is  traceable  directly  to  Popery.  Even  from  our  own  land 
large  sums  are  annually  exported  to  the  treasury  of  the 
Pope, — ^last  year  three  millions,  this  year  all  that  can 
possibly  be  raised  for  "  Peter  in  prison." 

Is  Romanism  less  intolerant  than  formerly  ?  The 
hope  is  vain.  Her  ever  memorable  words  are  :  "  The 
good  must  tolerate  the  evil,  when  it  is  so  strong  that  it 
cannot  be  redressed  without  danger  and  disturbance  to 
the  whole  Church,  ....  otherwise,  where  ill  men,  be 
they  heretics  or  other  malefactors,  may  be  punished 
without  disturbance  and  hazard  of  the  good,  they  may 
and  ought,  by  public  authority,  either  spiritual  or  tem- 
poral, to  be  chastised  or  executed."  *  Is  this  less  than 
an  open  declaration  of  determination  to  persecute  even 
unto  death  so  soon  as  they  can  obtain  the  power  ?  We 
exist  merely  by  tolerance,  being  mercifully  allowed  to 
retain  our  own  cherished  doctrines  and  worship  God  in 
the  way  that  to  us  seems  according  to  Scripture,  simply 
because  Rome  has  granted  us  present  indulgence.  But 
the  right  to  chastise  us  with  rods  of  iron.  Holy  Mother 
has  not  yielded.  Her  loyal  sons  defend  every  act  of 
persecution,  even  all  her  past  enormities.  The  Crusades 
are  lauded.  Even  the  Inquisition  is  unblushingly  de- 
fended and  even  applauded.  It  is  declared  :  "  It  saved 
society  from  a  danger  only  second  to  that  from  which 
it  was  preserved  by  the  Crusaders."  Rome  is  represented 
as  the  one  "  place  on  earth  where  error  has  never  been 
permitted  to  have  a  foothold."  Protestantism  is  de- 
*  Ehemish  Testament,  Matt.  xiii.  6. 


POPERY    UNCHANGED.  293 

clared  to  be  "  a  gigantic  rebellion  against  the  Church  of 
God."  Accordingly,  Rome  establishes  "  the  Congregation 
of  the  Inquisition  "  to  "  protect  the  souls  of  her  children 
from  the  fatal  pestilence  of  heresy  and  umbelief."  '•  Pro- 
testantism is  everywhere  the  intruder — the  innovator," 
By  the  right  of  prior  occupation,  "  in  a  special  manner 
she  claims  this  land."  And  whilst  they  have  the  right 
to  persecute  and  silence  us,  we  have  scarcely  the  right 
to  protest,  for  "  Protestantism  tolerating  every  error  can 
make  no  exception  against  the  truth."  Sublime  arro- 
gance ! 

With  a  candor  that  is  truly  refreshing,  considering 
whence  it  proceeds,  the  Jesuits,  Rome's  sworn  adherents 
— who  by  intrigue  and  perjury  and  diabolical  malignity 
have  sown  discord  everywhere,  and  been  thirty  nine 
times  expelled  from  the  different  countries  of  Europe — 
whilst  claiming  full  liberty  to  extend  the  principles  of 
their  Church  unmolested  and  even  unchallenged,  yet 
unequivocally  deny  that  they  have  abandoned  the 
right  to  persecute.  Did  ever  audacity  equal  this  ?  It 
amounts  to  saying  that  constitutional  liberty  must 
warm  them  into  vigor,  that  they  may  have  the  power 
to  inflict  upon  it  a  deadly  wound.  The  Slieplievd  of  the 
Valley,  a  Catholic  paper  published  in  St.  Louis,  with 
the  approbation  of  the  archbishop,  says  : 

"  The  Catholic  who  says  that  the  Church  is  not  intolerant,  belies 
the  sacred  spouse  of  Christ.  The  Christian  who  professes  to  be 
tolerant  himself,  is  dishonest,  ill-instructed,  or  both  ! " 

"  "VYe  say  that  the  temporal  punishment  of  heresy  is  a  mere  ques- 


29-4  POPERY    UNCHANGED. 

Hon  of  eocpedieiioy.  "Where  we  abstain  from  persecuting  them  (the 
Protestants),  they  are  well  aware  that  it  is  merely  because  we  cannot 
do  so;  or  think  that  by  doing  so  we  should  injure  the  came  that  we 

wish  to  serve If  the  Catholics  ever  gain — which  they  surely 

will  do — an  immense  numerical  majority,  religious  freedom  in  this 
country  is  at  an  end.     So  say  our  enemies,  so  we  believe." 

"  Heresy  and  unbelief  are  crimes,  that's  the  whole  of  the  matter ; 
and  where  the  Catholic  religion  is  an  essential  part  of  the  laws  of 
the  land,  they  are  punished  as  other  crimes."  * 

The  Freemaris  Journal  a  few  years  since  treated  its 
readers  to  the  follo^viiig  : — 

"  A  Catholic  temporal  Government  would  be  guided  in  its  treat- 
ment of  Protestants  and  other  recusants,  solely  by  the  rules  of  expe- 
diency  Religious  liberty,  in  the  sense  of  liberty  possessed  by 

every  one  to  choose  his  own  religion,  is  one  of  the  most  wicked  de- 
lusions ever  foisted  upon  this  age  by  the  father  of  all  deceit.  The 
very  word  liberty,  except  in  the  sense  of  jjermission  to  do  certain 
definite  acts,  ought  to  be  banished  from  the  domain  of  religion." 

"None  but  an  atheist  can  xqyhold  the  prindples  of  religious  liberty. 
Short  of  atheism,  the  theory  of  religious  liberty  is  the  most  palpable 
of  untruths.  Shall  I  therefore  fall  in  Avith  this  abominable  delusion 
and  foster  the  notion  of  my  fellow  countrymen,  that  they  have  a 
right  to  deny  the  truth  of  God,  in  the  hope  that  I  may  throw  dust 
in  their  eyes,  and  get  them  to  tolerate  my  creed  as  one  of  the  many 
forms  of  theological  opinion  prevalent  in  these  latter  days  ?  " 

"  Shall  I  hold  out  hopes  to  him  that  I  will  not  meddle  with  his 
creed,  if  he  will  not  meddle  with  mine?  Shall  I  lead  him  to  think 
that  religion  is  a  matter  of  private  opinion,  and  tempt  him  to  forget 
that  he  has  no  more  right  to  his  religious  views  than  he  has  to  my 
purse,  or  my  house,  or  my  life-blood  f  No !  Catholicism  is  the  most 
intolerant  of  creeds.     It  is  intolerance  itself — for  it  is  truth  itself. 

*  Editorial,  April  10,  1852. 


POPERY    UNCHANGED.  295 

"We  might  as  rationally  maintain  that  a  sane  man  has  a  right  to 
believe  that  two  and  two  do  not  make  four,  as  this  theory  of  religi- 
ous liberty.     Its  impiety  is  only  equalled  by  its  absurdity." 

A  Papal  bull  annually  "  excommunicates  and  curses 
— on  the  i3art  of  God  Almighty,  the  Father,  Son  and 
Holy  Ghost — all  heretics,  under  whatever  name  they 
may  be  classed."  To  such  anathemas  we  may  reply  in 
the  language  of  David  to  Shimei,  "  It  may  be  the  Lord 
will  look  on  our  affliction,  and  requite  us  good  for  their 
cursing." 

The  text-books  now  studied  in  their  theological  sem- 
inaries are  well  calculated  to  keep  alive  the  spirit  of 
persecution.  Dr.  Den,  in  his  "  System  of  Theology,"  a 
standard  with  Papists,  affirms  :  "  Protestants  are  by  bap- 
tism and  by  blood  under  the  power  of  the  Romish 
Church.  So  for  from  granting  toleration  to  Protestants, 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  to  exter- 
minate their  religion."  Again,  "  It  is  the  duty  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  to  compel  Protestants  to  submit 
to  her  fiiith."  The  Rhemish  Testament,  in  its  commen- 
tary on  Matthew  xviii.  17,  declares:  "Heretics  there- 
fire,  because  they  will  not  hear  the  Church,  be  no  better, 
nor  no  otherwise  to  be  esteemed  of  Catholics,  than 
heathen  men  and  publicans  were  esteemed  among  the 
Jews."  Again,  2  Cor.  vi.  14  :  "  Generally  here  is  for- 
bidden conversation  and  dealing  with  all  heretics,  but 
especially  in  prayers  and  meetings  at  their  schismatical 
service."  Once  again  :  "  Protestants  ought  by  public 
authority,  either  spiritual  or  temporal,  to  be  chastised 


296  POPERY   UNCHANGED. 

or  executed."  In  exposition  of  these  words,  "  drunken 
with  the  blood  of  the  saints,"  these  Rhemish  annotators 
say  :  "  The  Protestants  foolishly  expound  it  of  Rome, 
for  that  there  they  put  heretics  to  death,  and  allow  of 
their  punishment  in  other  countries ;  but  their  blood  is 
not  called  the  blood  of  saints,  no  more  than  the  blood 
of  thieves,  man-killers,  and  other  malefactors,  for  the 
shedding  of  which  by  order  of  justice  no  commonwealth 
shall  answer."  Liguori,  in  his  "  Moral  Theology,"  a  work 
very  highly  prized  in  their  theological  seminaries,  says  : 
"  As  the  Church  has  the  right  of  compelling  parents  to 
hold  to  the  faith,  so  she  has  the  power  of  taking  their 
children  from  them."  Canon  XII.  of  the  recent  (Ecu- 
menical Council  affirms  : — "  If  any  think  that  Christ, 
our  Lord  and  King,  has  only  given  to  his  Church  a 
power  to  guide,  hy  advice  and  permission,  but  not  ordain 
by  laws,  to  compel  and  force  by  anterior  judgments,  and 
salutary  injiictions,  those  who  thus  separate  themselves, 
let  them  be  anathema."  Surely,  in  language  at  least, 
Rome  is  no  less  intolerant  than  in  the  centuries  j)ast. 
And  doctrines  such  as  these  are  taught  to  youth  in  this 
land  of  Protestant  liberty !  "*' 

And  Rome's  actions,  as  well  as  her  teachings,  unmis- 
takably evince  the  same  unchanged  spirit.  Jewish 
parents  in  Rome  employ  a  Catholic  nurse.  Their  infant 
son  is  clandestinely  baptized  by  a  Popish  priest.  Hence- 
forth it  is  the  child  of  the  Church.  Stolen  from  the 
home  of  its  parents — who  in  vain  demand  the  God-given 
right  to  their  child — immured  in  a  monastery,  carefully 


POPERY   UNCHANGED.  297 

instructed  in  the  doctrines  of  Popery,  the  Jewish  dog, 
transmuted  into  a  priest,  Mortara,  at  manhood  enters 
the  world  thanking  God  that  His  true  church  is  a  baby- 
stealer.  Raffaele  Ciocci,  honorary  librarian  of  a  Papal 
college  in  Rome,  is  entrapped  by  Jesuits  into  a  monas- 
tery. Infsillibility,  carefully  instructing  him  in  the 
mysteries  of  Romanism,  designs  him  for  a  missionary  to 
distant  lands  steeped  in  the  ignorance  of  Protestantism. 
Becoming,  through  the  instrumentality  of  God's  blessed 
word,  a  determined  enemy  of  the  Papacy,  death  is 
decreed  against  him.  With  Jesuitical  hypocrisy,  under 
the  cloak  of  friendship,  a  poisoned  beverage  is  handed 
him.  Saved  by  a  timely  antidote,  he  seeks  release  from 
the  iron  grasp  of  his  inhuman  persecutors  by  appealing 
to  the  Pope.  This  only  rendering  his  situation  doubly- 
more  intolerable,  he  finally  consents  to  sign  a  recantation 
in  the  hope  of  effecting  an  escape.  Landing,  in  the  year 
1842,  on  the  shores  of  free  England,  he  is  watched  and 
dogged  by  Franciscans  and  Jesuits,  and  every  available 
means  employed  to  entangle  him  again  in  the  cruel 
snares  of  Romanism.  In  his  revelations  of  the  Man  of 
Sin,  Ciocci  has  conclusively  proved  that  Popery  in  this 
nineteenth  century  is  the  same  uncompromising  foe  of 
the  Gospel,  the  same  bitter  persecutor,  unchanged  and 
unchangeable. 

We  must  content  ourselves  with  a  mere  reference  to 
most  of  the  recent  cases  of  Popish  intolerance.  Protest- 
ants, and  especially  American  Protestants,  ought  not  to 
forget  the  cruel  persecutions  of  the  unhappj'-  inhabitants 


298  POPERY   UNCHANGED. 

of  Lower  Valais,  Switzerland,  where,  in  1843,  the  Jesuits 
after    innumerable    iniquitous    proceedings,    signalized 
their  triumph  by  the  passage  of  a  law  prohibiting  all 
Protestant  w^orship,  public  and  social ;  forbidding  God's 
people  to  meet  for  the  reading  of  his  Word  even  in  their 
own  houses.     And  in  what  language  shall  we  charac- 
terize the  banishment,  in  1837,  of  400  Protestants  from 
one  of  the  States  of  Austria  on  the  simple  charge  of  re- 
fusing Papal  supremacy? — or  the  imprisonment,  in  1843, 
of  Dr.  Kally,  a  Scottish  physician,  on  the  island  of 
Madeira  ? — or  the  sentence  of  death  pronounced  against 
one  of  his  converts,  Maria  Joaquina,  for  "  maintaining 
that  veneration  should  not  be  given  to  images,  denying 
the  real  presence  of  Christ  in  the  sacred  host,  and  blas- 
pheming the  Most  Holy  Virgin,  Mother  of  God  ?  "    And 
assuredly  every  lover  of  liberty  will  bear  in  sad  remem- 
brance the  history  of  the  lengthy  imprisonment,  cruelty 
and   protracted   sufferings  of  the  Madiai  family ;  the 
studied  ^persecution,  arrest,  impoverishment,  imprison- 
ment, and  sufferings  of  Matamoros  in  a  loathsome  cell 
— where   in  sickness  he  was  refused   a  physician  and 
even  medicine  ;  his  condemnation  to  the  galleys  for  nine 
years  on  the  testimony  of  suborned  witnesses ;  his  ban- 
ishment from  Spain,  to  which  his  throbbing  heart  and 
enfeebled  voice  would  fain  have  proclaimed,  "  Salvation 
is  of  the  Lord,"  and  his  triumphant  death  in  Switzerland, 
whither  he  had  gone  in  the  faint  hope  of  sending  some 
message  of  life  to  his  endeared  countrymen  enslaved  by 
the  superstitions  of  Rome.     Even  our  own  land  within 


POPERY  UNCHANGED.  999 

a  few  years,  for  aught  we  know,  may  have  given  a  mar- 
tyr to  the  truth.  Bishop  Reese  of  Michigan,  charged 
with  ecclesiastical  error,  entered  Rome  in  response  to 
the  citation  of  the  Pope.  So  far  as  the  world  knows,  he 
entered  eternity  the  day  he  stepped  within  the  magic 
circle  of  the  heartless  Inquisition. 

Until  the  present  year — and  for  the  change  no 
thanks  to  Popery — Protestant  worship  was  prohibited 
in  Rome.  Did  ever  intolerance  equal  this?  While 
allowed  in  England  and  the  United  States  to  hold  their 
services,  build  churches,  found  monasteries,  establish 
theological  seminaries,  collect  enormous  sums  of  money 
for  transmission  to  the  Pope,  and  foment  insurrection 
and  rebellion  against  the  Governments  whose  protec- 
tion they  claim,  they  will  not  permit  Protestant  wor- 
ship even  in  a  private  house  where  they  have  the 
power  to  prevent  it.  The  foreign  resident  who  dares 
to  join  with  his  countrymen  in  worshipping  God  accord- 
ing to  the  forms  of  worship  to  which  he  has  been 
attached  from  youth,  places  himself  "  in  the  power  of 
the  Inquisition,  both  for  arrest  and  imprisonment,"  and 
is  earnestly  advised,  unless  he  courts  exile  or  a  dungeon, 
"  never  again  to  repeat  these  illegal  acts."  * 

Another  fact  evincing  the  present  spirit  of  Popery 
claims  attention.  A  full  regiment  of  Canadians,  a  few 
years  since,  proifered  their  services  to  aid  in  upholding 
the  temporal  power  of  the  Pope.     The  s]Dirit  of  Peter 

*  See  Letter  from  Joseph  Severn,  British  Consul  at  Rome,  to  E^v. 
James  Lewis,  dated  Dec.  29,  18G6. 


300  POPERY   UNCHANGED. 

the  Hermit  still  lives.  From  every  Catholic  pulpit  in 
Canada  appeals  were  made  for  aid  for  Pius  IX.  in  his 
embarrassments.  With  every  Catholic  newspaper  office 
a  recruiting  station,  and  with  a  central  committee  to 
secure  unity  of  action,  volunteers  offered  themselves  in 
greater  numbers  than  were  needed.  On  the  day  of 
their  departure  an  address  was  delivered  by  Archbishop 
McCloskey : — "  You  are  going  to  stand  with  others 
like  you,  as  a  rampart  of  defence  and  a  tower  of 
strength  around  the  presence  of  your  Holy  Father,  to 
protect  his  safety  and  defend  his  rights."  Defend  his 
rights;  his  right  to  steal  the  children  of  heretics,  to 
imprison  Protestants,  to  prevent  all  forms  of  worship 
except  Popish,  to  fetter  freedom,  to  curse  the  institu- 
tions of  modem  liberty,  to  trample  on  the  dearest 
hopes  of  the  Italian  people,  and  keep  them,  though 
longing  for  escape,  in  the  grossest  ignorance,  under  the 
severest  despotism,  in  the  most  abject  poverty ! 
The  Archbishop  continues : 

"  They  (Catholics  in  the  United  States)  are  as  strongly  devoted 
to  the  sustenance  and  maintenance  of  the  temporal  power  of  the 
Holy  Father  as  Catholics  in  any  part  of  the  world ;  and  if  it 
should  be  necessary  to  prove  it  by  acts  they  are  ready  to  do  so.  .  . 
If  that  policy  (non-interference)  should  ever  change  to  a  sympa- 
thy with  the  Italians  as  against  the  Holy  Father,  then  Catholics 
must  be  prepared  to  show  their  readiness  by  acts  as  well  as  words, 
to  give  their  lives,  if  necessary,  for  their  Holy  Father." 

This  first  crusade  failed.  And  now,  forsooth,  the 
tocsin  is  sounding  a  grander,  a  world-wide  crusade. 
From  all  the  nations  that  on  earth  do  dwell,  the  faith- 


POPERY  UNCHANGED.  301 

ful,  for  multitude  like  the  swarms  of  flies  in  Egypt  of 
old,  are  to  meet  at  some  designated  spot,  proceed  to 
Italy,  wipe  out  the  rebellious  sons  of  Holy  Mother,  and 
restore  Pius  IX.  to  the  throne  from  which  he  has  been 
ejected  by  the  almost  unanimous  voice  of  his  own  peo- 
ple. Festinate.  "  Whom  the  gods  design  to  destroy, 
they  first  make  mad."  In  this  holy  work  the  Catho- 
lics of  these  United  States — those  ardent  friends  of 
popular  Government,  who  so  loudly  proclaim  that  every 
nation,  even  every  State  has  the  right  to  the  choice  of 
its  own  government — are  expected,  and  are  preparing, 
by  firing  their  enthusiasm  by  volumes  of  wordy  pro- 
tests— they  have  all  turned  Protestants  at  last — to  take 
a  prominent  part,  the  highest  seat  in  the  synagogue 
of  war. 

We  have  authority  stamped  with  the  signet  of  in- 
fallibility for  asserting  that  the  first  allegiance  of  the 
Catholic  of  the  United  States  is  due  not  to  our  Govern- 
ment, but  to  the  Pope.  We  are  explicitly  told  that 
we  are  protecting  an  organization  which  holds  itself 
ready  at  any  time  to  obey  the  commands  of  a  foreign 
despot.* 

*  The  Tablet,  in  a  recent  issue,  asks : — "Is  the  American  idea 
higher  than  this  Church  idea  ?  No  Catholic  can  pretend  it ;  for  to 
him  the  Church  idea  is  divine,  and  nothing  is,  or  can  be,  higher  than 
God,  wlio  is  Supreme  Creator,  proprietor  and  Lord  of  all  things,  visi- 
ble and  invisible.  If,  then,  between  the  Church  or  Catholic  idea, 
and  the  American  idea,  there  should  happen  to  be  a  collision,  which 
should  give  way,  the  lower  or  higher  ?  The  Catholic  idea  being 
supreme,  must  be  the  law,  the  universal  standard  of  right  and  wrong, 


302  POPERY   UNCHANGED. 

Certainly,  on  the  question  of  intolerance  and  detesta- 
tion of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  none  can  charge 
Rome  with  vacillation.  If  language  and  actions  ex- 
press the  determination  of  the  will,  and  the  desire  of 
the  heart,  we  may  certainly  be  excused  for  believing 
the  assertion  of  our  Catholic  friends  : — "  If  the  Catho- 
lics EVER  GAIN  AN  IMMENSE  NUMERICAL  MAJORITY,  RELI- 
GIOUS FREEDOM  IN  THIS  COUNTRY  IS  AT  AN  END." 

Since  Popery  is  an  outgrowth  of  the  depraved  heart, 
may  we  not  expect  that  it  will  remain  essentially  un- 
changed, so  long  as  human  nature  remains  unaltered? 
Are  we  not  taught  in  Nebuchadnezzar's  dream,  and 
Daniel's  vision,  and  Paul's  prophecy,  that  this  giant 
evil  shall  afflict  the  world  until  the  dawn  of  the 
millennium  ?  * 

By  graduallj-  undermining  the  foundations  of  a  sim- 
ple faith  in  the  unadulterated  Gospel,  Popery  estab- 
lished itself  as  the  desperate  and  malignant  foe  of  all 
that  is  life-giving  in  the  spiritual  religion  of  Christ,  all 

of  truth  and  falsehood,  and  consequently  all  ideas,  whether  Celtic  or 
Saxon,  English  or  American,  that  contradict  it,  or  do  not  accord 
■with  it,  are  to  be  rejected  as  false  and  wrong,  as  repugnant  to  the 
supreme  law  of  God,  even  to  God  himself,  and  not  to  be  entertained 
for  a  moment." 

*  "  But  the  judgment  shall  sit,  and  they  shall  take  away  his 
dominion  to  consume  and  to  destroy  it  unto  the  end.'''' — Dan.  vii.  26. 

"And  then  shall  that  Wicked  be  revealed,  whom  the  Lord  shall 
consume  with  the  spirit  of  his  mouth,  and  shall  destroy  with  the  bright- 
ness of  his  coining.''''  "  JJyUo  the  end,''''  '■^ shall  destroy  with  the  bright- 
ness of  his  coming.''''  The  best  Commentators  say,  till  Christ's  Second 
Advent.— 2  Thes.  ii.  8. 


POPERY   UNCHANGED.  303 

that  is  ennobling  in  the  liberty  it  inspires.  And  how 
otherwise  than  by  gradual  destruction  can  the  doctrines 
and  superstitions  of  millions  of  human  beings  be  utterly 
consumed  ?  Their  overthrow  "  in  an  hour  "  would  not 
produce  in  the  hearts  of  the  enslaved  instantaneous 
detestation  of  these  follies  and  errors.  Rome's  tem- 
poral power  is  indeed  gone,  perhaps  forever,  but  her 
spiritual  despotism  is  still  complete,  and  may  continue 
nearly  or  quite  the  same  for  centuries.  So  long  as 
there  are  those  who  are  willing  to  be  victims  of  spiritual 
thraldom,  there  will  no  doubt  be  those  who  are  ready 
to  enslave  them.  Consume  the  hated  organization  to- 
day, and  to-morrow  another,  phoenix-like,  will  spring 
from  its  ashes.  Love  of  power,  and  preference  of  the 
forms  of  devotion  to  the  spirit,  will  no  doubt  continue — 
calling  for  the  unceasing  labors  of  God's  people — till 
the  river  of  time  issues  into  the  ocean  of  eternity. 

We  may,  therefore,  expect  in  the  future  what  we 
have  witnessed  in  the  past — an  unceasing  struggle. 
Many  complications  may  arise.  Often  victory  may 
seem  to  perch  on  the  banners  of  the  enemy.  Many 
hopes  will  be  crushed,  the  hearts  of  God's  people  "  fail- 
ing them  for  fear,  and  for  looking  after  those  things 
that  are  coming  upon  the  earth."  Since,  however,  we 
have  witnessed  in  the  last  three  centuries  the  gradual 
decay  of  Popery,  may  we  not  confidently  rejoice  in  the 
hope  that  He  who  delights  to  write  on  the  page  of 
history  the  evidence  of  his  far-reaching  designs  will,  in 
his   own    time,    strike   tlie    final    blow,    causing   this 


304  POPERY   UNCHANGED. 

gigantic  system  of  fiilsehood  to  dissolve  like  mist  before 

the  rising  sun  ?     Ours  is  the  task  of  hoping,  laboring, 

praying,  till  even  in  Rome  spiritual  liberty  shall  dawn 

on  civil, 

"  Like  another  morning  risen  on  mid-noon." 

"  How  long,  0  Lord  our  God, 
Holy,  and  true  and  good, 
Wilt  Thou  not  judge  Thy  suffering  Church, 
Her  sighs,  and  tears,  and  blood  ? " 


TEE  END.  ■ 


Hi 


I 


